Oppose Senate Bill 1125
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The Honorable Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman
Dear Senator Hatch, I am writing to express my strong opposition to S. 1125, the so-called "Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act." I have many reasons for opposing S.1125 and to take action against inhumane asbestos trust/bail out bill (SB 1125) a. S.1125, lacks serious and critical detail. Interpretation and implementation of the proposal is unknown. b. No consideration for a mixed disease of asbestosis and silicosis. c. Delay as procedures are created for appointment of the bureaucratic governing. Delay as the claims system is developed. This could take many years. d. Appointees could alter, eliminate, and delay the presently filed court cases through the proposed administrative procedure. e. S.1125 does NOT pay fair values. Proposed amounts do not cover astronomical medical bills of those who suffer from mesothelioma and lung cancer. f.. S.1125 does NOT take into account the age of the individual, future earning capacity of the victims, and dependents. g. Companies with bankruptcy protection have set aside trusts in amounts that are in the billions of dollars. The legislation would cap liability at $600 million, a drastic reduction. WHILE THE VICTIMS ARE LEFT TO SUFFER, OR WORSE, DIE. h. It would prevent all lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers for asbestos-related injury and illness. i. 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. j. The asbestos court would operate as an adversarial body, but there would be no mechanism to insure that injured workers could obtain legal representation. k. 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. l. The asbestos court would place an unnecessarily heavy evidentiary burden on injured workers, compelling them to produce decades-old evidence in order to prevail. m. 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. n. 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. o. 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
DEFEAT IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you, your spouse, or your child were one of the victims of asbestosis, mesothelioma, lung cancer, silicosis, etc., you would not sit idle by letting this bill be passed. The companies that kept quite about the materials containing asbestos -- made a profit off of the victims!!!! Not caring about the worker's health!!! Please, go see the people affected by these terrible diseases!!! ONE PROUD, HONORABLE AND DIGNIFIED AMERICAN
*** POSTED ON JULY 15, 2003 *** |