Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing on Asbestos Litigation
FDCH TRANSCRIPTS
Congressional Hearings
Mar. 5, 2003
Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing on Asbestos Litigation
DEWINE:
Well Mr. Chairman, let me just thank you for holding this hearing and salute you for that and also Senator Leahy. Senator Leahy held a hearing last year on this. And I know how interested he is in this issue. I can't think there's much more important this committee is going to do this year than get a bill out. And I appreciate your commitment, not only to hold a hearing, but to move a bill.
The status quo is simply intolerable. It is unfair to the victims. It is unfair to the employees of the companies that are being hurt. We need to worry about first of all the victims. The victims need to be paid fully. And they are not. And they need to be paid quickly. And they are not. We need to worry about the companies that don't really have much of a future because of the uncertainty and the employees who work for these companies who don't have much of a future because of the uncertainty.
This has a tremendous impact, as Senator Voinovich has indicated, on many, many states. It certainly has an impact on my home state and Senator Voinovich's state of Ohio. We have a number of victims in Ohio who this directly affects. We also have a number of companies who this impacts. Let me just give an example.
In one county in the state of Ohio, Cuyahoga County, there are 745 companies that have been sued in Cuyahoga County. And this is the list just in Cuyahoga County. None of these companies, Mr. Chairman, not one of these companies ever manufactured asbestos, not one company. We've talked about several different options.
DEWINE:
I don't what's the most viable option. I think either option would be a vast, vast improvement over the status quo. I suspect that the medical criteria bill probably is the easiest bill to pass, but I certainly have an open mind about this and will continue to listen to the testimony. I think the testimony so far today has been very, very helpful and very, very enlightening. And I'm going to ask some additional questions beyond those that have already been asked.
Mr. Archer, let me start with you, if I could. You heard the testimony of Senator Baucus. And you commented a little bit on that. And let me just ask you and maybe Mr. Kazan about that, if I could, if you would go on a little bit further. In the senator's written testimony, he says, it's been made clear to me that we've likely lost ground under the ABA medical standard with even more Libby patients barred from filing a claim under the ABA standard than were barred under the 1999 act. I would refer members of the committee to a letter from Dr. Whitehouse that I have submitted for the record. And this is a very lengthy letter. I'm not going to reference it. There's some very tough medical language. But I don't know whether the two of you had an opportunity to look at the letter. I reference it to you. If you haven't, the committee would appreciate your taking a look at the letter. And I would wonder if both of you and any other of the members of the panel could comment on that.