Jump to full article: West Virginia Record, 2010-03-03
Author: Chris Dickerson -Statehouse Bureau
Intro: An order filed Wednesday will ensure asbestos plaintiffs don't get paid twice for the same alleged injuries.
Circuit Judge Ronald Wilson's order essentially ensures that defendants in asbestos cases receive proper credit when plaintiffs are paid by trusts of bankrupt defendants. In asbestos cases that go to verdict, money paid by such trusts would reduce the amount of the money paid out.
The order is meant to make the process of dealing with trusts of bankrupt asbestos defendants more open and to make it easier for all parties involved to see what plaintiffs in such cases told the trusts. . . .
Cohn also referenced the infamous Kananian vs. Lorillard Tobacco Company case in Ohio.
He has called the case "the poster-child for abuses flowing from the opaque nature of the trust claiming process."
In that case, Harry Kananian claimed in he developed mesothelioma solely from smoking Lorillard's asbestos-filtered cigarettes. But he and his attorneys simultaneously filed claims with numerous asbestos trusts alleging that their products caused the disease. Despite Kananian's attorneys' attempts to hide this information, Lorillard eventually learned that these lawyers had obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars by submitting contradictory -- even bogus -- trust claims, leading the judge to revoke counsel's pro hac vice privileges.
"Judge Wilson's order is good, but it still potentially allows for the gaming of the system by deferring the submissions," Cohn said of Wednesday's West Virginia order. "The problem, especially in joint and several jurisdiction, there are fewer and fewer solvent defendants. The share they might end up paying is bigger and bigger. These defendants are looking down the barrel of a gun in joint and several jurisdictions."
. . .
Jump to full article » |