COLUMBUS - Tens of thousands of asbestos lawsuits in Ohio courts could be placed on hold indefinitely under a bill signed into law yesterday by Gov. Bob Taft.
Expected to face a court challenge, the law will take effect in early September. Ohio will become the first state to require those exposed to potentially deadly asbestos to meet a specific medical threshold in order to sue those who manufactured the heat-resistant fiber or used it in their products.
"We are one of the states suffering the most from the asbestos crisis," said state Sen. Steve Stivers (R., Columbus), who guided the House bill through Senate. "Jobs have been lost. Otherwise healthy companies have gone bankrupt because of asbestos lawsuits. Because we are the poster child for abuse, we should be a poster child for reform. Several states are right behind us."
Some asbestos lawyers have discussed financing a referendum petition campaign asking voters to repeal the law. With an estimated 30,000 of the 40,000 current asbestos cases expected to be placed on an inactive docket, a court challenge to the law's retroactivity is considered inevitable.
"People who got hurt, filed their cases, and are already in the system are seeing the rules changed," said Richard Mason, executive director of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers. "The way we read the Constitution, you can't do that."
The bill is the latest in a series of tort reform measures that have been signed into law over the last two years restricting when someone may sue or capping how much they may collect in noneconomic damages when successful.Meanwhile, a much broader tort reform measure affecting product liability, personal injury, and other cases is expected to see a vote after the Nov. 2 election. Mr. Taft, who has been holding events across the state to drum up support for such measures, called the asbestos bill and a similar bill affecting silica, a component of sand, "a good start," and "a cornerstone of our job-creation package."
Under the asbestos bill, it no longer would be sufficient to simply present an X-ray showing there has been some change to the lungs as a result of exposure to asbestos, a product used heavily through most of the last century for insulation and other heat-resistant products.
Those wishing to file suits or maintain those in the system instead would have to demonstrate either they've developed an asbestos-related lung cancer or suffered a significant loss of lung function.
Mr. Stivers said the law should benefit a company like Toledo's Owens-Illinois, which has been sued hundreds of thousands of times after using asbestos as pipe insulation. It would have little impact, however, on a company like Owens Corning, which already has been forced into bankruptcy under the weight of asbestos litigation.
The law would not prevent the filing of lawsuits against Ohio companies in other states, but Mr. Stivers noted about 10 other states have similar bills in the pipeline. Attempts to enact a federal law have stalled.
Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.
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