Specter Says Senate Must Overcome Asbestos Divisions
Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R–Pa.) said on Tuesday he is planning to press for an asbestos bill that probably will not represent a consensus because business, labor and other groups remain divided over the legislation’s details, CongressDaily reported. During a Judiciary Committee hearing on “The Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act,” all sides said months of negotiations on Specter’s 273-page bill had yielded progress. But even the bill’s supporters said differences remained over six or seven issues, including how a proposed federal trust fund to compensate asbestos victims would shut down if it ran out of money and whether cases would return to federal or state courts if it did. Specter said he hopes to resolve outstanding issues and finish a bill that can garner more than 60 votes to avoid a cloture fight. Where he cannot secure industry agreement, he said, lawmakers must make hard choices. “It is obvious we will not have consensus on all issues,” he said, adding that he was aiming for a February deadline.
- Committee Hearing Testimony and Statements
- 2004 version of “The Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act”
Managing Mass Torts Litigation in Chapter 11
Herding Cats and Other Problems
The Mass Torts Committee will present a two-part program at the 2005 ABI Annual Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C. The committee will address class actions in bankruptcy on Saturday, April 30, at the JW Marriott. The first part of the program will be offered on Saturday morning at 9:30 am; the second part will be offered at 11:15 am. Panelists will provide various perspectives on class actions, including those of debtor’s counsel (treatment of class actions in bankruptcy and resolution of such actions), plaintiff’s counsel (protecting your client pre-bankruptcy, representation of a client in bankruptcy), corporate counsel (what to expect as a corporate client, issues surrounding the decision to file) and a professor (legal pitfalls and issues surrounding resolution of mass tort claims in bankruptcy).
Minutes from the 2004 Winter Leadership Conference
The Mass Torts Committee did not hold a business meeting at the Winter Leadership Conference in December 2004; instead, the allotted time was used to present a double-session program, in conjunction with the Mediation Committee, on mediation in bankruptcy cases. The first session covered basic mediation goals and styles and ended with a demonstration of a mediation in a hypothetical preference case. The second session concentrated on mediation in mass tort cases. Panelists and the audience engaged in a lively discussion of the types of issues and personalities that may make mediation more or less likely to succeed.