Good for West Virginia for taking a stand against the practice of “over-naming" defendants in asbestos litigation.
On April 15, Gov. Jim Justice signed reform legislation making changes to how asbestos lawsuits are filed. The law, which will go into effect this summer, requires plaintiffs in asbestos cases to file a sworn information form that specifies the evidentiary basis for each claim, which must be accompanied by supporting documentation.
The intent of the legislation is to stop the practice of ensnaring innocent companies in a fishing expedition process, a problem that is just as profound in Madison County – the longtime busiest asbestos docket in the land – as well as in neighboring St. Clair County and Cook County to the north.
Madison County averages 58 defendants per lawsuit, St. Clair County, whose court system in recent years also has signaled a strong appetite for out of state lung cancer claims, averages 113 defendants per lawsuit. Cook County, also a top 10 national asbestos court, averages 61 defendants per lawsuit.
Plaintiff attorneys might argue that they are simply doing their due diligence in casting a wide net, as if it’s no big deal for companies with no liability to spend months or years racking up legal costs.
Not only does this practice result in lost products, services and economic opportunities, it is a stain on our community. Our courts should not be used as lairs by the plaintiffs’ bar to bleed solvent companies with no connection to causation, nor should our judges be frustrated by their inability to process them all.
West Virginia followed the path led by Iowa, which last year became the first state to enact such legislation.
Reform advocate Mark Behrens noted the purpose of the bill isn’t to “take money out of the pockets of the plaintiffs’ lawyers,” but rather to “take these unnecessary defendants out of the case.”
When money is being spent on litigation costs that ultimately never goes to benefit sick people, he said.
The new laws in West Virginia and Iowa are fair and make sense. Now it’s time to fix the problem in Illinois.