Home > 106th Congressional Bills > H.R. 1587 (ih) To encourage States to establish competitive retail markets for electricity, to clarify the roles of the Federal Government and the States in retail electricity markets, to remove certain Federal barriers to competition, and for other purpo...H.R. 1587 (ih) To encourage States to establish competitive retail markets for electricity, to clarify the roles of the Federal Government and the States in retail electricity markets, to remove certain Federal barriers to competition, and for other purpo...
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1586
To provide for the fair and efficient judicial consideration of
personal injury and wrongful death claims arising out of asbestos
exposure, to ensure that individuals who suffer impairment, now or in
the future, from illnesses caused by exposure to asbestos receive
compensation for their injuries, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 3, 2003
Mr. Cannon introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the fair and efficient judicial consideration of
personal injury and wrongful death claims arising out of asbestos
exposure, to ensure that individuals who suffer impairment, now or in
the future, from illnesses caused by exposure to asbestos receive
compensation for their injuries, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Asbestos
Compensation Fairness Act of 2003''.
(b) Table of Contents.--
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2 Findings and purposes.
Sec. 3. Physical impairment.
Sec. 4. Procedures; removal.
Sec. 5. Statute of limitations; two-disease rule.
Sec. 6. Scope of liability; damages.
Sec. 7. Liability rules applicable to product sellers, renters, and
lessors.
Sec. 8. Definitions.
Sec. 9. Miscellaneous provisions.
Sec. 10. Effective date.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
(1) asbestos is a mineral that was widely used prior to the
1980s for insulation, fire-proofing, and other purposes;
(2) millions of American workers and others were exposed to
asbestos, especially during and after World War II and prior to
the advent of regulation by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration in the early 1970s;
(3) long-term exposure to asbestos has been associated with
various types of cancer, including mesothelioma and lung
cancer, as well as such nonmalignant conditions as asbestosis,
pleural plaques, and diffuse pleural thickening;
(4) the diseases caused by asbestos often have long latency
periods;
(5) although the use of asbestos has dramatically declined
since 1980 and workplace exposures have been regulated since
1971 by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, past
exposures will continue to result in significant claims of
death and disability as a result of such exposure;
(6) exposure to asbestos has created a flood of litigation
in state and Federal courts that the United States Supreme
Court has characterized as ``an elephantine mass'' of cases
that ``defies customary judicial administration and calls for
national legislation,'' Ortiz v. Fibreboard Corporation, 119 S.
Ct. 2295, 2302 (1999);
(7) asbestos personal injury litigation can be unfair and
inefficient, imposing a severe burden on litigants and
taxpayers alike;
(8) the extraordinary volume of nonmalignant asbestos cases
continues to strain state and Federal courts, with over 200,000
cases currently pending and over 50,000 new cases filed each
year;
(9) asbestos personal injury litigation has already
contributed to the bankruptcy of more than 60 companies,
including nearly all manufacturers of asbestos textile and
insulation products, and the rate of asbestos-driven
bankruptcies is accelerating;
(10) the vast majority of asbestos claims are filed by
individuals who allege they have been exposed to asbestos and
who may have some physical sign of exposure, but who suffer no
present asbestos-related impairment;
(11) the cost of compensating exposed individuals who are
not sick jeopardizes the ability of defendants to compensate
people with cancer and other serious asbestos-related diseases,
now and in the future; threatens the savings, retirement
benefits, and jobs of defendants' current and retired
employees; adversely affects the communities in which these
defendants operate; and impairs the national economy and
interstate commerce;
(12) the several thousand asbestos-related cancer cases
that are filed each year are manageable by the courts and the
litigants;
(13) concerns about statutes of limitations can force
claimants who have been exposed to asbestos but who have no
current injury to bring premature lawsuits in order to protect
against losing their rights to future compensation should they
become impaired;
(14) consolidations, joinder, and similar procedures, to
which some courts have resorted in order to deal with the mass
of asbestos cases, can undermine the appropriate functioning of
the judicial process and encourage the filing of thousands of
cases by exposed individuals who are not yet sick and who may
never become sick;
(15) similarly, the availability of sympathetic forums in
states with no connection to the plaintiff or to the exposures
that form the basis of the lawsuit has encouraged the filing of
thousands of cases on behalf of exposed individuals who are not
yet sick and may never become sick;
(16) excessive, unpredictable, and often arbitrary damage
awards and unfair allocations of liability jeopardize the
financial well-being of many individuals, businesses, and
entire industries, particularly the nation's small businesses;
(17) punitive damage awards unfairly divert the resources
of defendants from compensating genuinely impaired claimants
and, given the lengthy history of asbestos litigation and the
regulatory restrictions on the use of asbestos-containing
products in the workplace, the legal justification for such
awards--punishment and deterrence--is either inapplicable or
inappropriate; and
(18) the public interest and the interest of interstate
commerce requires deferring the claims of exposed individuals
who are not sick in order to preserve, now and for the future,
defendants' ability to compensate people who develop cancer and
other serious asbestos-related injuries and to safeguard the
jobs, benefits and savings of American workers and the well-
being of the national economy.
(b) Purposes.--It is the purpose of this Act to--
(1) give priority to those asbestos claimants who can
demonstrate actual physical harm or illness caused by exposure
to asbestos;
(2) fully preserve the rights of claimants who were exposed
to asbestos to pursue compensation should they become impaired
in the future as a result of such exposure;
(3) enhance the ability of the State and Federal judicial
systems to supervise and control asbestos litigation and
asbestos-related bankruptcy proceedings; and
(4) conserve the scarce resources of the defendants, and
marshal assets in bankruptcy, to allow compensation of cancer
victims and others who are physically impaired by exposure to
asbestos while securing the right to similar compensation for
those who may suffer physical impairment in the future.
SEC. 3. PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT.
(a) Impairment Essential Element of Claim.--Physical impairment of
the exposed person, to which asbestos exposure was a substantial
contributing factor, shall be an essential element of an asbestos
claim.
(b) Prima Facie Evidence of Physical Impairment for Nonmalignant
Asbestos Claims.--No person shall bring or maintain a civil action
alleging a nonmalignant asbestos claim in the absence of a prima facie
showing of physical impairment as a result of a medical condition to
which exposure to asbestos was a substantial contributing factor. Such
a prima facie showing shall include all of the following minimum
requirements:
(1) Evidence verifying that a qualified physician has taken
a detailed occupational and exposure history of the exposed
person or, if such person is deceased, from the person who is
the most knowledgeable about the exposures that form the basis
of the nonmalignant asbestos claim, including--
(A) all of the exposed person's principal places of
employment and exposures to airborne contaminants; and
(B) whether each place of employment involved
exposures to airborne contaminants (including but not
limited to asbestos fibers or other disease causing
dusts) that can cause pulmonary impairment and the
nature, duration and level of any such exposure.
(2) Evidence verifying that a qualified physician has taken
detailed medical and smoking history, including a thorough
review of the exposed person's past and present medical
problems, and their most probable cause.
(3) A determination by a qualified physician, on the basis
of a medical examination and pulmonary function testing, that
the exposed person has a permanent respiratory impairment
rating of at least Class 2 as defined by and evaluated pursuant
to the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment.
(4) A diagnosis by a qualified physician of asbestosis or
diffuse pleural thickening, based at a minimum on radiological
or pathological evidence of asbestosis or radiological evidence
of diffuse pleural thickening.
(5) A determination by a qualified physician that
asbestosis or diffuse pleural thickening (rather than solely
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is a substantial
contributing factor to the exposed person's physical
impairment, based at a minimum on a determination that the
exposed person has--
(A) total lung capacity, by plethysmography or
timed gas dilution, below the predicted lower limit of
normal;
(B) forced vital capacity below the lower limit of
normal and a ratio of FEV1 to FVC that is equal to or
greater than the predicted lower limit of normal; or
(C) a chest x-ray showing small, irregular
opacities (s,t) graded by a certified B-reader at least
2/1 on the ILO scale.
(c) Prima Facie Evidence of Asbestos-Related Lung Cancer.--No
person shall bring or maintain a civil action alleging an asbestos
claim which is based upon lung cancer, in the absence of a prima facie
showing which shall include the following minimum requirements:
(1) Diagnosis by a Board-certified pathologist, pulmonary
specialist, or oncologist of a primary lung cancer and that
exposure to asbestos was a substantial contributing factor to
the condition.
(2) Evidence sufficient to demonstrate that at least 10
years have elapsed between the date of first exposure to
asbestos and the date of diagnosis of the lung cancer.
(3) Depending on whether the exposed person has a history
of smoking, the requirements of either (A) or (B) below--
(A) in the case of an exposed person who is a
nonsmoker, either--
(i) radiological or pathological evidence
of asbestosis or radiological evidence of
diffuse pleural thickening; or
(ii) evidence of occupational exposure to
asbestos for the following minimum exposure
periods in the specified occupations:
(I) 5 exposure years for
insulators, shipyard workers, workers
in manufacturing plants handling raw
asbestos, boilermakers, shipfitters,
steamfitters, or other trades
performing similar functions;
(II) 10 exposure years for utility
and power house workers, secondary
manufacturing workers, or other trades
performing similar functions; or
(III) 15 exposure years for general
construction, maintenance workers,
chemical and refinery workers, marine
engine room personnel and other
personnel on vessels, stationary
engineers and firemen, railroad engine
repair workers, or other trades perform
in similar functions;
(B) in the case of an exposed person who is a
smoker, the criteria contained in both (A)(i) and
(A)(ii) must be met.
(d) Prima Facie Evidence of Asbestos-Related Other Cancer.--No
person shall bring or maintain a civil action alleging an asbestos
claim which is based upon cancer of the colon, rectum, larynx, pharynx,
esophagus, or stomach, in the absence of a prima facie showing which
shall include the following minimum requirements:
(1) A diagnosis by a Board-certified pathologist, Board-
certified pulmonary specialist, or Board-certified oncologist
(as appropriate for the type of cancer claimed) of primary
cancer of the colon, rectum, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, or
stomach, and that exposure to asbestos was a substantial
contributing factor to the condition.
(2) Evidence sufficient to demonstrate that at least 10
years have elapsed between the date of first exposure to
asbestos and the date of diagnosis of the cancer.
(3) The requirements of either (A) or (B) below--
(A) radiological or pathological evidence of
asbestosis or radiological evidence of diffuse pleural
thickening;
(B) evidence of occupational exposure to asbestos
for the following minimum exposure periods in the
specified occupations:
(i) 5 exposure years for insulators,
shipyard workers, workers in manufacturing
plants handling raw asbestos, boilermakers,
shipfitters, steamfitters, or other trades
performing similar functions;
(ii) 10 exposure years for utility and
power house workers, secondary manufacturing
workers, or other trades performing similar
functions; or
(iii) 15 exposure years for general
construction, maintenance workers, chemical and
refinery workers, marine engine room personnel
and other personnel on vessels, stationary
engineers and firemen, railroad engine repair
workers, or other trades performing similar
functions.
(e) No Prima Facie Requirement for Mesothelioma.--In a civil action
alleging an asbestos claim based upon mesothelioma, no prima facie
showing is required.
(f) Compliance With Technical Standards.--Evidence relating to
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