Oppose Senate Bill 1125 Huntington Beach, CA
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February 19, 2004
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Subject: Bill SB 1125Dear Senator Feinstein: It is extremely important that the above subject bill be defeated if and when it is brought to the Senate floor. Please read the follow explanations and attached documentation. The disease that asbestos causes, Mesothelioma, is regarded as one of the most horrendously painful and deadly cancers a person can fall victim to. Unfortunately, over the past eight months, we have been introduced to this terrible disease since our closest friend for over 30 years has contracted Mesothelioma. George Lachapelle is just one of thousands of innocent, hardworking people who had come in contact with asbestos, typically at their workplace. It can take up to 20 or 30 years, or more in some cases, before asbestos inhaled into a body shows its ugly face. George was THE most healthy, active person we know. He never smoked in his lifetime. This is an extremely important point since Senator Hatch (who authored the bill) and Senator Frist (who is trying to push it through the Senate) are grouping Mesothelioma and lung cancer together as the same illness. This is absolutely incorrect. Of course lung cancer is a dreadful disease, but it is NOT the same as Mesothelioma. Smoking does not cause Mesothelioma, contact with asbestos does. Please, Senator, we implore you to read the attached story about George, which shows the life of this once healthy, energetic person and what asbestos does to the human body. It is only a little over three pages and shows that Mesothelioma victims deserve to have this transgression compensated for. Americans have a constitutionally guaranteed right to due process, equal protection and a jury trial. Senators Hatch and Frist want to trade away our time-honored rights and freedoms in order to give the corporate wrongdoers who are responsible for the asbestos epidemic (our country is in the midst of) the virtues of "manageable risk", "accounting regularity" and "a fresh start". How do the victims of these offenders get "a fresh start?" All they have to look forward to are prematurely painful terminations of their once-healthy lives. What Senators Hatch and Frist would like to do with SB 1125 is halt all asbestos litigation for a 27‑year period and pay those with asbestos-related illnesses on a "no fault" basis out of a trust funded by asbestos defendants and their insurers. If this is passed, victims like George and their families will have no chance in being compensated, for as surely as we breathe, the sufferers will be long gone. SB 1125 would set up a "trust fund" that would "cover" all victims; grouping them together as one "problem". This is an absolute disgrace to everything that America stands for. Each victim is an individual; different ages, different degrees of malignancies, different periods of suffering and different amounts of medical expenses. Everyone is entitled to his or her day in court. The trust "award" the Bill would issue to each plaintiff would not compensate the majority of victims fairly. It would, of course, be a great deal lesser monitory penalty for the individual companies, as they would all pool their portions and come out ahead - way ahead. Enclosed is documentation that hopefully you will examine to understand the victims' arguments against the Bill. If it would help defeat this bill, we along with the Lachapelle family plus many others, would travel to Washington to plead our cause. We thank you in advance for reading about our plight and the plight of so many other Americans. Very sincerely,
Elaine and Arthur Rosen
Attachments: - Article about George Lachapelle entitled "Boyishly Exuberant 73-Year-Old Jack La Laine Disciple Vows to Return to the Weight Room, Huntington Beach CA" - "Beware the Ides of March: the Hatch Bill Rears Its Ugly Head … Again"*** POSTED ON FEBRUARY 25, 2004 *** |