G7. Asbestos Flashcards
3 reasons that if asbestos usage were to immediately cease, exposure would
continue:
- Previously manufactured asbestos containing products in use
- Asbestos dust in environment from previous use
- Erosion of deposits in asbestos bearing rocks
Briefly explain why grouping of multiple plaintiffs and defendants has increased costs and complexity:
Defendant companies argue this has forced them to make settlements on claims that were not necessarily deserved, in order to avoid the possibility of having to pay substantial punitive damages due to juries hearing mesothelioma cases
List 4 reasons that defense costs may increase going forward:
- More defendants now involved in the litigation
- Many defendants have abandoned settlement strategies
- Newer defendants are incurring significant discovery costs, because they need to understand their exposure and potential defenses
- Coverage disputes between defendants and insurers; and insurers and reinsurers may increase
Provide statistics to demonstrate that asbestos litigation has been inefficient:
- Defense costs made up about 31% of the payments
- Only 42% was paid to the claimants as net compensation
List 5 concerns of Seriously Injured Claimants:
- Those with detectable and indisputable injuries (deserve to be compensated)
- It is important for them to resolve their claims quickly, due to their short life expectancy
- High transaction costs reduce the funds available for their needs
- Those that develop serious illnesses in future years are exposed to the risk that the companies responsible go bankrupt
- Since funds are limited, it is possible that awards used to pay nonmalignancy claims will leave less to pay these more serious diseases
List 4 changes in the litigation environment since 2001:
- Some jurisdictions now restrict nonmalignancy claims or restrict the extent to which claimant’s actions may be combined
- Venue reform and joint and several liability reform
- Validity of some chest X-rays to justify nonmalignancy claims has been challenged
- Significant decrease in the number of new nonmalignancy claims
Describe the concerns of Plaintiffs Attorneys:
- Issues for attorneys are generally the same as their clients
- Those who represent seriously injured claimants have been more supportive of legislative changes
List 4 concerns of Nonseriously Injured and Unimpaired Claimants:
- Currently unimpaired, although they may have an X-ray that indicates pleural changes
- May be concerned that if they do not begin a lawsuit today, may be prevented from recovering damages in the future if serious conditions occur, due to the Statute of Limitations.
- Also concerned that if they do not file a lawsuit, funds may not be available later
- Faces uncertainty about future health, and will require ongoing expenses for medical monitoring
Describe the concerns of Major Asbestos Defendants:
- State that they can’t get a fair trial in state court
- May have had to pay inflated awards due to injury consolidation
- Believes that at least part of the awards should be funded by other parties
- Concerned that uninjured plaintiffs are being compensated
- Concerned that the current compensation system is prohibitively expensive
- Wants closure (put the consequences of past business practices behind them)
List 2 concerns of Judges:
- Primarily concerned with trial docket pressures, and fairness of results
- Feel that trial docket pressures force actions that speed up the trial process, and result in potentially less fair outcomes
Explain why the defense costs for peripheral defendants may be considerably higher
- Can be named in suits at little/ no cost to plaintiff
- Because discovery often takes place just before trial, it is very difficult to get dismissed from the case without incurring significant costs
- Often settle suits where they may not be liable, as the risk of being subject to adverse judgments when other parties have settled is quite high
Describe the concerns of Peripheral Asbestos Defendants:
- Some believe that they should not be held liable since the asbestos in their product was encapsulated
- Concerned that they are going to be responsible for liability that was borne by the now bankrupt manufacturers of asbestos containing products
- Claim that it is unfair to hold them accountable for the same knowledge of health risks as the major defendants. Also concerned that the majority of trials occur at locations favorable to plaintiffs
- Claim that the court does not use objective evidence to evaluate the credibility of claims of injury
- Concerned that they may be held responsible for liability that should be borne by non US companies.
- Wants closure (put the consequences of past business practices behind them)
Describe the concerns of Employees/ Retirees of Firms with Asbestos Liabilities:
- Bankruptcies lead to loss of 52K-60K jobs
2. Average worker lost over $8K on average in pension losses
Describe the concerns of Insurers and Reinsurers:
- Concerns are generally the same as policyholders: major and peripheral defendants
- Concern about interpretation of the contracts
- Concern about making settlements with claimants who have no clearly identifiable injury
- Wants predictability of financial results, and finality with respect to quantifying their expected liabilities
List some examples of areas of debate about the trust fund approach:
- How many claims of various disease types will be filed?
- Will the criteria appropriately identify victims of asbestos related diseases?
- Are the proposed awards appropriate?
- Is the proposed funding adequate?
- Will the proportion of funding from the various classes of contributors be viable and fair, and will it provide a final
release from future claims? - Will the fund be operated efficiently?
- Will any proposed statute withstand constitutional challenges?
