Courts have tossed about 30,000 asbestos injury claims to comply with an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that upheld limits on such cases, but people whose lungs begin showing evidence of damage could refile their cases, a judge said on October 21.
Judge Harry Hanna, one of three judges handling 39,000 asbestos cases for Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, said the dismissed cases covered claims without serious sickness.
Cases can be reinstated if plaintiffs start showing symptoms of asbestos damage to lungs, Hanna said.
The Ohio Supreme Court said last week that a 2004 state law restricting the ability of people to pursue claims can be applied to cases before the law took effect. The law restricts claims unless people show evidence of health problems caused by asbestos.
The ruling could have legal ramifications in Florida, Georgia, Kansas and other states that have sought to use such laws to reduce litigation related to the cancer-causing substance.
Ohio at one time had the largest backlog of asbestos-related cases in the nation. The 2004 law requires a plaintiff to show that a medical expert who personally treated the plaintiff has found that the patient’s health has been substantially impaired by exposure to asbestos.
Hanna said that since the court had already determined that the cases did not meet the law’s requirements, the judges could dismiss them all at once.
Asbestos, which can cause cancer and other medical problems if inhaled, was widely used in construction and for other purposes until the mid-1970s.
Cleveland, a traditional base for manufacturing companies that once used asbestos for insulation and for law firms specializing in asbestos litigation, has long been a focus of such lawsuits.
Paul Flowers, an attorney who handles appeals for asbestos victims, said he was hopeful the judges would live up to the commitment to allow cases to be refiled if serious health problems from asbestos emerge.
“As long as they have a right to a claim at some point, that’s all you can ask for,” Flowers said.
Richard Schuster, who represented companies in last week’s Ohio Supreme Court case, said the high court’s decision would be watched in other states with similar issues, including one pending before the Florida Supreme Court. The Ohio ruling would not be binding on other states.
Schuster said the mass dismissal in Cleveland would benefit asbestos plaintiffs without serious illness by allowing the courts to focus on cases with active lung problems. Companies sued over the issue will benefit by having dormant cases dropped because they won’t have to set aside money to cover possible costs from asbestos litigation, Schuster said.
Insurance company representatives lauded the Surpreme Court ruling as the right decision. The Washington, D.C.-based American Insurance Association said in a recent statement, “For too long, the bulk of asbestos claims that have caused dozens of Ohio companies to go bankrupt were specious. The reform measure, now validated by the court, simply requires plaintiffs to provide solid medical evidence of an asbestos-related illness for a lawsuit to proceed. The truly sick will still get compensated and for those that, thankfully, are not sick but may become sick, they can still have their day in court.”
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