Statement: Judiciary Committee - Asbestos Bill Mark Up
STATEMENT: JUDICIARY COMMITTEE -- ASBESTOS BILL MARK-UP
Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this mark-up today and congratulations on getting to this point. You have put in an extraordinary amount of time on this asbestos issue, and without your efforts, we would not be here today. I know that Senator Hatch and Senator Leahy and in fact all of the members of this Committee have spent a great deal of time on this issue also, and that is time well spent, because this is an issue of tremendous importance to people and businesses all throughout our country.
We all know that our justice system has failed to deal with the asbestos crisis. The system is not adequately protecting the rights of victims or defendants. As things stand now, some victims are successful in getting jury verdicts that compensate them fairly; but many victims have no one to sue and receive less than five percent of the value of their claims from asbestos bankruptcy trusts. On the other extreme, some victims receive huge awards or settlements that are out of proportion to their injuries.
The bottom line is that more and more victims face a risk of never being compensated for asbestos-related illnesses. Meanwhile, more and more businesses are facing the prospect of long, expensive court battles despite the fact that their connection to asbestos is really very remote. Businesses are going bankrupt, employees are losing jobs, and victims are not being fairly compensated. The system we have now is a mess, and we must fix it.
The bill in front of us today is by no means perfect, but the status quo is intolerable. It is our responsibility to deal with this crisis, and we must not wait any longer to act. We have to get the best bill we can -- one that deals as fairly and effectively as possible with as many of the complicated issues as possible. And then, we need to move it forward. I've been a long-time supporter of this legislation, and I am going to continue to support it and do everything I can today to help move it out of Committee and to the Floor.
http://dewine.senate.gov/