Senate Judiciary Committee chairman decides against asbestos subpoena
July 28, 2005
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter, Pa.-R., said he had decided against seeking to subpoena companies facing asbestos lawsuits, marking the second time he has backed off the threatened action in a month.
Specter denied he had floated the subpoena threat to press companies into providing information he wanted about how they would finance a proposed $140 billion asbestos victims’ compensation fund. Telling reporters of the subpoena threat it was “a sincere thought at the time it was articulated,” Specter announced to the committee’s assembled staff days ago that he and the panel’s ranking Democrat, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, would ask the committee today for authority to subpoena the data from companies.
Some senators have said they cannot support Specter and Leahy’s measure unless they know what companies would pay what amounts, but Specter and Leahy did not mention the subpoena at the committee meeting, and later, Specter told reporters he had decided against pursuing it.
Asbestos was widely used for fireproofing and insulation until the 1970s. Inhaling asbestos fibers has been linked to asbestosis, lung cancers and mesothelioma, and asbestos related lawsuits have bankrupted dozens of U.S. companies. Because such a long latency period can exist between asbestos exposure and disease onset, the proposed trust fund has been accused of lacking adequate funds for victims not yet experiencing asbestos related health tolls.
Specter and Leahy’s bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee in May, and it would halt pending lawsuits and pay claims using the $140 billion fund financed by companies facing the suits, as well as their insurers. While the asbestos bill has a formula for industry contributions, which is based on the company’s size and prior asbestos expenditures, many companies have been reluctant to say how much it would affect them and what they would expect to pay. Companies have claimed if they allow the information to go public before the asbestos bill is passed it could subject them to more asbestos lawsuits.
Specter had mentioned the possibility of a subpoena of the company data back in June, but he also backed away the same day.For more information on asbestos related illnesses and death, please contact us to confer with an attorney.
