Asbestos bill needs more work

Spokane Spokesman-Review
Published May 22, 2005

Companies are going bankrupt because of litigation related to asbestos-related diseases. Seriously ill people are not being compensated because their cases are stuck behind thousands of others that are clogging the courts. A special U.S. Supreme Court pleading urged Congress to come up with a solution. Last spring, the Senate Judiciary Committee crafted a delicate, bipartisan compromise that included input from industries, labor unions, health-care groups, asbestos patients and their attorneys. The proposed compensation fund was designed to help those with the most legitimate claims. Private companies agreed to pay into the fund in exchange for being released from current and future lawsuits. But at the last minute, Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., introduced a substitute bill backed by insurance companies that greatly reduced the amount of the fund and the whole deal unraveled. This year, the committee has crafted another bill, but it has so many deficiencies and uncertainties that it's probably best that it be killed, too. A compensation fund is the right answer, but nobody thinks the bill's current total of $140 billion will be enough. Plus, it isn't clear what will happen when the money runs out. Are victims out of luck? Will taxpayers pick up the tab? What is clear under the current bill is that litigation at that point won't be an option. The complications don't end there. The bill limits compensation to those who worked in direct contact with asbestos for at least five years, but it makes an exception for residents of Libby, Mont., who got sick from the dust workers carried home with them on their clothing. Nobody begrudges compensation for Libby residents; hundreds of them have died. But what about communities where the ore was shipped for processing? Spokane had such a plant. So did numerous communities around the country. Senators are asking that the Libby exception be extended to their states, too. Another complication is that asbestosis and other diseases of the lungs can take 30 or more years to emerge. Because of that, it's difficult to know the extent of the problem. Moreover, a Rand Corp. study found that $54 billion had been paid out in asbestos-illness cases as of 2002 and as many as 2.4 million claims could be filed, costing businesses about $210 billion more. Thus, the current amount of $140 billion in the compensation-fund bill appears to be insufficient. Industry should consider increasing the total. The current system of litigation would be far worse. Over the past 40 years, about 600,000 lawsuits have been filed, and an estimated 300,000 are still active. Up to 70 companies nationwide have filed for bankruptcy because of asbestos claims. There is no solution that will satisfy industry and all legitimate victims of asbestos. But Congress should work toward a more balanced solution.