News Coverage
Bush to discuss asbestos litigation during trip to Michigan
Published January 7, 2005
President Bush plans to discuss ways to curb asbestos lawsuits Friday during a trip to Michigan, where auto companies have been hammered by lawsuits from people who say that asbestos made them ill.
Bush hasn't endorsed a specific solution to asbestos litigation, but he supports a capping medical malpractice claims, limiting class-action lawsuits and other legal reforms.
"We very strongly share the president's view that tort reform and a solution to the asbestos litigation crisis would be very desirable," said Elliott Portnoy, a spokesman for Federal-Mogul Corp.
Federal-Mogul Corp., a Southfield, Mich.-based auto supplier, filed for bankruptcy in 2001 because it was facing more than 365,000 lawsuits claiming hundreds of millions in damages because of asbestos. The company was drawn into the issue in 1998, when it bought several companies with asbestos claims against them.
Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG also have faced lawsuits from people who said their car brakes made them ill. In 2003, the Big Three unsuccessfully appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to limit their exposure to such lawsuits.
Federal-Mogul has been pushing for action from Congress to curb the lawsuits but so far hasn't been satisfied with lawmakers' solutions. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said this week he wants quick action on a bill that would end lawsuits and pay victims from a trust fund. But Federal-Mogul doesn't support the fund because it could be forced to contribute at least $82 million a year for nearly 30 years, Portnoy said.
"It's the nightmare scenario for Federal-Mogul," Portnoy said.
Portnoy said the company wants Bush to support a law that would require people to be ill from exposure to asbestos before they could sue. Right now, people are suing even though they aren't sick because they fear getting sick in the future.
Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, which published a report on asbestos earlier this year, said it would be a mistake to let Congress dictate who is sick enough to sue. Instead, he said the government should find people who are legitimately injured and determine compensation.
"The problem is a public health problem, not a bankruptcy problem," he said.
Wiles accuses Federal-Mogul of "despicable corporate conduct" and says it's trying to duck its responsibility to asbestos victims. The Environmental Working Group believes 10,000 people in the United States die each year because of exposure to asbestos.
"We need to look at the human toll here," Wiles said.