The Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco has taken a path that the federal courts and several state courts have opted for already, in deciding to create an asbestos “department” within the court administration. All asbestos cases will be referred to a single judge who will move them through preliminary phases in an efficient manner.
All discovery issues and other issues that typically bog a potential civil case down will go before the asbestos judge who will clear the way for asbestos lawsuits to go to trial or, the court hopes, to be settled. “The goal is to make sure that we don’t have cases endlessly trailing for trial and that we attempt to have cases settle before they use up a jury panel,” said Presiding Judge James McBride.
In 2008, an astonishing 45% of all jurors summoned for civil cases by the S.F. Superior Court heard asbestos cases. Impaneling jurors is a challenge for every court administration and in San Francisco, the stack of asbestos claims seems to have tied up a remarkable amount of the trial time and space available.
Generally the defense attorneys are positive about this development. In asbestos cases, it’s the asbestos companies and businesses whose employees suffered from asbestos exposure that are the defendants. Attorneys representing the asbestos companies see value to an organized approach to moving cases along.
Some plaintiffs’ attorneys agreed, noting that a standard procedure for preliminary activity will create consistency throughout the process. Said one plaintiff’s attorney, “If you have a judge like Judge Kahn who is supervising a case from beginning to end, that judge is going to be able to see who is taking the low road, and who is taking the high road,” he said. “Some firms use hardball tactics, which go against the idea of getting cases resolved easily and quickly.” It goes without saying that a quick settlement is invaluable to a mesothelioma cancer victim, most of whom have mere months to live after diagnosis is made.
Other plaintiff’s attorneys saw the move differently, because an attempt to induce settlements in these cases may if effect deny the plaintiff an opportunity to go before a jury. It appears that San Francisco has been identified as a jurisdiction generally friendly to plaintiffs – which often means suspicious of corporations. Some plaintiff’s attorneys see juries, or the threat of a San Francisco trial, as a source of leverage with the defense. That’s why the Superior Court docket is stacked with asbestos litigation.
