Statement by U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform President Lisa A. Rickard on the “Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2015” (H.R. 526) and new evidence of a systematic strategy by plaintiffs’ lawyers to intentionally conceal their clients’ claims for compensation from asbestos bankruptcy trusts in order to wrongfully inflate their clients’ compensation in the court system:
“By concealing asbestos bankruptcy trust claims, plaintiffs’ attorneys are not only hiding relevant evidence from asbestos defendant companies, but also from judges and juries. The only way to ensure the integrity of the judicial system is to require trust transparency, so plaintiffs’ lawyers cannot suppress evidence or double-deal under the veil of secrecy surrounding asbestos trusts, which currently have assets of about $30 billion. Transparency is also the only way to ensure that asbestos trusts, which are already paying claimants 50-percent less than they did six years ago, are not depleted by dubious claims and survive long enough to compensate future asbestos claimants.”