Politics and Limits on Mesothelioma Lawsuits
Over ten years ago, the Supreme Court ordered Congress to create asbestos legislation that would help mesothelioma lawsuits move through courts fast. The motivation behind this ruling was to stop bogging down the court’s time with mesothelioma cases where the plaintiff was obviously in the right, and to help these victims claim compensation faster and easier with the help of a qualified attorney. Unfortunately, this did not help victims of the deadly cancer, but instead has been used in an attempt to help industry leaders stop having to pay out as much money for the asbestos-related diseases they caused.
As early as the year 2000, the first mesothelioma-related bill was drafted. This bill, dubbed The Fairness in Asbestos Compensation Act, would create a separate Department of Justice office to deal solely with asbestos-related diseases. The bill went through four years of rewrites before it was finally defeated in the final round of votes. If this act had passed, many more suffering asbestos victims would be able to get compensation without sludging through the long court process and needing to hire a skilled mesothelioma layer.
In 2004, Senator Owen Hatch entered a bill into Congress that would place a cap on all mesothelioma awards and set up much more strict standards in order to be eligible for these awards. Under this proposed legislation, asbestos companies would pay money into a trust fund, where it would be waiting for victims to claim it. One of the worst parts of this bill is the fact that if the trust ran out, asbestos companies would still not be subject to lawsuits, leaving cancer patients and their families fend for their own when it came to paying for medical expenses and funerals on their own. Many mesothelioma specialists warned the trust fund value of $140 billion would be nowhere near enough to cover all of the asbestos victims. The American Thoracic Society warned that the definition of mesothelioma in the bill was outdated and old. While mesothelioma and asbestiosis can hit families of workers who dealt with asbestos and victims be afflicted after only working with the substance for a few months, the proposed legislation would only cover people who worked asbestos for over five years. Fortunately this bill, favored largely asbestos companies was not signed into law.
To this day, our country still has not outlawed the use of asbestos, let alone created a strong asbestos legisation.. If you or a loved one has mesothelioma, you will need a top mesothelioma attorney to help you claim compensation for your losses. Your mesothelioma lawyer can even help you learn more about the potential legislation that may affect mesothelioma in the future.
For a free consultation and case review, please contact mesothelioma Lawyers at Crain-Lewis, LLP.
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