ABA Confronts Asbestos Lawsuit Limits

AP via Lycos.com ^ | 02/04/2003

[GeneD]

The nation's largest lawyers' group is jumping into the debate over multibillion-dollar asbestos lawsuits and, in an unusual move, may endorse efforts to limit who can sue.

A plan to be debated at the American Bar Association's winter meeting -- beginning Wednesday in Seattle -- would put the 400,000-member organization on the same side as big business groups the ABA often opposes.

ABA President-elect Dennis Archer said massive asbestos lawsuits have become a problem and the association should not remain on the sidelines as Congress considers limits on them later this year.

Courts are overwhelmed with claims by people who have been exposed to cancer-causing asbestos but are not sick yet, Archer said, and the people who are really ill "are dying before they have their day in court."

The ABA plan would not bar suits from people with cancer. It restricts lawsuits to those with asbestos-related pulmonary disease and defines what the medical standard is.

The proposal opens a deeply personal debate among lawyers. Many defense and plaintiffs' lawyers have made huge amounts of money from the suits. About 600,000 asbestos-related lawsuits are in courts around the country, and thousands more are being filed each year.

Under the proposal approved by an ABA commission, 90 percent of those cases would be barred, critics say.

Mary Alexander, president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, said in a letter to Archer that it would be a "tragic mistake" for the ABA to limit access to courts for people who otherwise would have a jury determine if they were ill and deserved compensation.

Opponents will try to defeat the plan when the ABA's policy-making board takes it up early next week. Asbestos victims may travel to Seattle to share personal accounts of their illnesses.

Roger Sullivan, who represents people in Libby, Mont., a town plagued by asbestos problems related to a former vermiculite mine, said the ABA proposal excludes people who are ill but don't have cancer. "Real people who are already suffering would have their misery compounded," he said.

Asbestos is a heat-resistant mineral once used widely in insulation and fireproofing. It has been found to cause severe and sometimes deadly respiratory problems.

The ABA debate comes with a backdrop of economic woes caused by asbestos lawsuits. More than 60 companies have sought bankruptcy protection since 2000 because of asbestos exposure claims and large settlements.

A study by the Rand Institute for Civil Justice said the suits could cost businesses more than $200 billion.

"It is somewhat surprising the ABA, which almost always sleeps in the same bed as the trial lawyers association, is strongly considering a proposal that would significantly reduce asbestos litigation," said Lester Brickman, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law in New York.

Brickman said the ABA, despite the controversy, belongs in the debate over asbestos and should use its lobbying muscle to ensure that people who are really ill win compensation.

The ABA will debate other issues during its weeklong meeting, including:

--Urging Congress to be more aggressive in overseeing the government's surveillance of suspected spies, and calling for more legal rights for people held as enemy combatants.

--Overhauling the standards for death penalty lawyers to ensure that people facing capital charges are adequately represented at trial.

--Barring nonlawyers from giving legal advice, a proposal opposed by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

The asbestos plan is being shepherded by Archer, who becomes the ABA's first black president this summer.

Archer, the former Detroit mayor, said he was distressed as a city leader to see asbestos lawsuits force companies into bankruptcy, hurting entire communities. Those bankruptcies dry up help for people with legitimate claims, he said.

While he works for a law firm that has represented defendants in asbestos cases, Archer said he has not personally been involved in asbestos litigation.

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On the Net:

American Bar Association: http://www.abanet.org/