An Battered Legal System Tires of Merit-less Claims

The State Affairs Committee recently found itself addressing the nagging question of what the legislature is able to do about the growing number of asbestos and silica lawsuits. The answer may be found in a member of the house, a medical doctor who authored the senate bill that has been pinpointed by certain business interests that note the influx of unfounded claims in the court system. Business groups believe that they are being exploited by fake victims and greedy personal injury lawyers who are in cahoots with doctors who can be bribed into giving generous X ray readings. The groups further claim that many businesses spend vast sums of money trying to fend off these fake claims.

There have been some recent changes in tort law that require any new asbestos claims to be heard by a specific judge in each state, and so many personal injury lawyers have used this to show that there is no further need for action by state legislatures. However, there seems to be a new wave of silica exposure claims surfacing due to some of the lawyers handling personal injury complaints that have been pushing through claims which are definitely questionable.

Business lobbyists counter that there is a simple measure to resolve this. If we simply ask that anyone filing a lawsuit must demonstrate suffering and injury from their exposure prior to wasting the court's time, this will fix the problem. We need proof beyond a simple x ray, which can be exaggerated by unethical doctors. The bill would modify the bar association's proposal to require claimants to meet with detailed medical standards, including having X rays taken, breathing tests done, and a thorough exam by a doctor before they could go forward with a lawsuit.

The bill does protect the interests of the workers as well as it gives workers that cannot yet prove harm a few protections. First, it removes the past limitations of two year. No matter the time since exposure, a worker can sue if they develop adequate symptoms. The bill would also prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to that worker regardless of whether medical tests reveal asbestos exposure.

Such protections are valuable, though some have argued that the medical threshold is too difficult to meet and provides no flexibility. While this newer proposal would make sure medical standards are kept current so a worker can sue, it would still mean a referral is needed from a judge for determination of it's actual medical merit. This would then remove the fraudulent claims and keep the rights of workers.

One opponent pointed out that if physicians are just lying in order to participate in fraudulent claims, then no bill in the world can fix that problem. The bill will not be able to keep doctors from lying to a higher standard. Whatever the motives of either side are, it's clear that the state should take a real interest in ridding itself of false claims. Workers with viable claims should be heard immediately. This bill, which has been submitted in the house, should be heard by the senate, according to the bill's sponsor.

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