Asbestos Bill Faces Battle
June 13, 2005 07:23

In the words of one participant, the dynamics of asbestos reform negotiations in the Senate during the last two years have been: You push in one direction, you get a negative reaction in the other. With a $140 billion bill now headed to the Senate floor, the pushing and reacting, some predict, will leap off the charts. The Senate is unlikely to take up S. 852, the "Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act," before its July 4 recess, according to some Senate staffers, and may not even get to it before September. But a divided business community, trial lawyers, asbestos victims groups and other so-called stakeholders in the legislation are already meeting with senators and staffers about their problems with the bill and, in some cases, threatening court challenges if those problems are not resolved and the bill becomes law.