Proposed SB 1125 Opposition Letter, Courtesy of NYCOSH
June 4, 2003
Dear Friend,
NYCOSH ( http://www.nycosh.org ) urges everyone concerned about fair compensation for asbestos victims to contact their senators immediately and tell them to oppose S.1125, a bill introduced by Senator Orrin. Hatch (R.-Utah), which would prevent all lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers for asbestos-related injury and illness.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has denounced S.1125 because it relieves asbestos manufacturers, employers, and insurers of liability and fails to provide fair compensation to victims of asbestos disease.
The bill would set up a special asbestos court which would make decisions that would not be subject to any meaningful review. The asbestos court would be using medical criteria that are set by the bill, which would exclude many, if not most, of the cases of asbestos-caused illness from receiving any compensation at all. The asbestos court would use a schedule of compensation that sharply limits the amount of compensation that an asbestos victim would receive to amounts far below what most victims win in court. In addition, the asbestos court would be funded at a level that is too low to compensate all asbestos victims, even at the court's bargain-basement rates. Once the pool of money was exhausted, all remaining victims would have absolutely no recourse.
In an attempt to railroad the bill through Congress, Senator Hatch is hoping that he can get it enacted before opposition has a chance to mobilize. We will need an outpouring of opposition from unions, public health advocates, environmental organizations, and public interest organizations across the nation to stop the well-financed campaign being waged by industry to limit their liability for the damage they have wrought on the health and lives of working people by consciously and willfully exposing them to this killing dust.
It is imperative that you make your views on this legislation known immediately. Please, contact your senators, especially those senators on the Judiciary Committee whose fax numbers and email addresses are listed below .
Attached is a factsheet from the AFL-CIO, a letter from an asbestos victim describing the impact of the legislation on workers, who, like himself, would be prevented from recovering under this bill, and a model letter that you can use to write your senator. Thank you for your immediate attention to this urgent matter.
P.S. In particular, we urge anyone in New York State to contact Senators Charles Schumer (fax: 202-228-3027) and Hillary Clinton (fax: 202-224-4451). In addition, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee should be contacted. They are listed below.
In solidarity,
Joel Shufro
Executive Director
104 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-5251 - Fax: (202) 224-6331
Web Form: www.senate.gov/~hatch/
Leahy, Patrick - (D - VT)
433 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-4242 - Fax: (202) 224-3479
Email: senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Kennedy, Edward - (D-MA)
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-4543 - Fax: (202) 224-2417
Email: senator@kennedy.senate.gov.Edward
Biden, Joseph - (D - DE)
201 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-5042 - Fax: (202) 224-0139
Email: senator@biden.senate.gov
Kohl, Herb - (D - WI)
330 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-5653 - Fax: (202) 224-9787
Email: senator_kohl@kohl.senate.gov
Feingold, Russell - (D - WI)
506 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-5323 - Fax: (202) 224-2725
Email: russell_feingold@feingold.senate.gov
Durbin, Richard - (D - IL)
332 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2152 - Fax: (202) 228-0400
Email: dick@durbin.senate.gov
Grassley, Chuck - (R - IA)
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-3744 - Fax: (202) 224-6020
Web Form: grassley.senate.gov/webform.htm
Specter, Arlen - (R - PA)
711 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-4254 - Fax: (202) 228-1229
Email: arlen_specter@specter.senate.gov
225 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-3154 - Fax: (202) 228-1374
Web Form: edwards.senate.gov/contact.html
Kyl, Jon - (R - AZ)
730 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-4521 - Fax: (202) 224-2207
Web Form: kyl.senate.gov/con_form.htm
DeWine, Mike - (R - OH)
140 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2315 - Fax: (202) 224-6519
Email: senator_dewine@dewine.senate.gov
Sessions, Jeff - (R - AL)
335 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-4124 - Fax: (202) 224-3416
Email: senator@sessions.senate.gov
Graham, Lindsey - (R - SC)
290 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-5972 - Fax: (202) 224-1189
Web Form: lgraham.senate.gov/email/email.htm
Craig, Larry - (R - ID)
520 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2752 - Fax: (202) 228-1067
Chambliss, Saxby - (R - GA)
416 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-3521 - Fax: (202) 224-3521
Email: saxby_chambliss@chambliss.senate.gov
Cornyn, John - (R - TX)
517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2934 - Fax: (202) 224-2934
Web Form: cornyn.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
Schumer, Charles - (D - NY)
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-6542 - Fax: (202) 228-3027
Web Form: schumer.senate.gov/webform.html
Feinstein, Dianne - (D - CA)
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-3841 - Fax: (202) 228-3954
Web Form: feinstein.senate.gov/email.html
The Honorable Senator
_____________________
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator ________________________
I am writing to express my organization's strong opposition to S. 1125, the so-called "Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act."
We have many reasons for opposing S.1125.
- It would prevent all lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers for asbestos-related injury and illness.
- It would set up a special "asbestos court" which would make decisions concerning asbestos-injury compensation that would not be subject to meaningful judicial or administrative review.
- The asbestos court would operate as an adversarial body, but there would be no mechanism to insure that injured workers could obtain legal representation.
- The asbestos court would be using medical criteria that are set by the bill, which would exclude many, if not most, of the cases of asbestos-caused illness from receiving any compensation at all.
- The asbestos court would place an unnecessarily heavy evidentiary burden on injured workers, compelling them to produce decades-old evidence in order to prevail.
- The asbestos court would use a schedule of compensation that sharply limits the amount of compensation that an asbestos victim would receive to amounts far below what most victims win in court.
- The asbestos court would be funded at a level that is too low to compensate all asbestos victims, even at the bill's bargain-basement rates. Once the initial pool of money was exhausted, all remaining victims would have absolutely no recourse.
S.1125 is a bill that could have been written by lobbyists for the asbestos companies. Its introduction has short-circuited meaningful negotiations that were making good progress toward producing a plan for an asbestos compensation trust fund that would be fair to people who have been injured by asbestos while providing asbestos manufacturers and insurers with the certainty they need to put asbestos litigation behind them. S. 1125 should be defeated.
Regards,
*** POSTED JUNE 4, 2003 ***