About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

2 Fordham Envtl. L. Rep. 125 (1990-1991)
Clearing the Air: Resolvng the Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation Crisis

handle is hein.journals/frdmev2 and id is 131 raw text is: COMMENT CLEARING THE AIR: RESOLVING THE ASBESTOS PERSONAL INJURY LITIGATION CRISIS RICHARD A. SOLOMON, Esq. * INTRODUCTION New York State juries are presently evaluating hundreds of personal injury claims arising from alleged asbestos exposures during construction at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard, powerhouses, office buildings, prisons, schools, hospitals and other commercial structures. These cases are part of the 130,000 federal and state personal injury actions that comprise the national asbestos litigation crisis. This comment briefly outlines the evolution of the asbestos litigation, asbestos use during construction and renovation, the biological effects of asbestos exposure, and the exponential increase in case filings over the past twenty years. This comment also examines the procedural and sub- stantive areas in the New York and nationwide asbestos personal injury litigation that impede resolution of these actions. The comment con- cludes with a discussion of potential solutions to the current crisis. Asbestos, known since the days of ancient Greece for its fireproofing and indestructible characteristics, is a commercial term for a group of mineral fibers.' King Charlemagne owned an asbestos tablecloth that he cleaned by burning in his fireplace.2 During World War II, asbestos was considered a strategic mineral that was rationed by the government,3 and from the 1940's to the mid-1970's asbestos was widely used in the United States in insulation products. Unfortunately, these microscopic asbestos fibers have sparked tens of thousands of personal injury lawsuits. The first lawsuits involving asbestos-related pulmonary disease were worker's compensation suits and personal injury suits filed in the 1970's. These cases have been filed in increasing numbers over the past two de- * Richard A. Solomon, 100 Park Avenue, 32nd Floor, New York, New York 10017, has served as defense trial counsel in the New York asbestos litigation since 1988. 1. Asbestos is the only mineral that contains fiber. A fiber is defined as a particle that is long and thin. It generally is accepted that a fiber capable of causing lung disease is three times as long as it is wide. 2. C. FREDERICK KITTLE, MESOTHELIOMA: DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT at viii (1987) citing Lee & Selikoff, Historical Background to the Asbestos Problem, 18 ENVTL. RES. 300 (1979). 3. Compensation for Occupational Diseases: Hearings on H.R. 1626 & H.R.3090 Before the Subcomm. on Labor Standards of the House Comm. on Education and Labor, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. (1985) (statement of Frank V. Connolly, former Director, Special Rating Division, War Production Board).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most