FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 13, 2006

Senate Must Fix Broken Asbestos System

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) this week joined more than 100 organizations representing veterans, healthcare providers, small businesses, lawmakers and concerned citizens to demand the Senate vote on a The Fairness in Asbestos Injury and Compensation Act (FAIR Act).  The FAIR Act would finally allow victims to receive fair compensation by bypassing courtrooms and the federal government's assertion of immunity from prosecution.

"On behalf of America's asbestos victims and the many nonprofits and small businesses whose work has been disrupted by rampant lawsuit abuse, we wrote Senator Frist today to let him know that the victims of this broken system can wait no longer," said CFIF President Jeffrey Mazzella. 

At stake is compensation for the tens of thousands of Americans who contracted diseases from exposure to asbestos in the workplace.  Right now, many victims of asbestos exposure are dying before they ever see their day in court.  The FAIR Act would end this injustice by:

• Creating a system that allows asbestos victims to pursue claims without having to wait years for their day in court.  

• Establishing a multi-billion dollar compensation fund financed by defendant companies and their insurers -- not taxpayers -- to pay damages to asbestos victims, which the Congressional Budget Office has certified has the funds to handle current and future cases.

• Enabling veterans who contracted asbestos-related diseases in the armed forces to get the compensation they are currently denied, because the U.S. government does not allow itself to be prosecuted for exposing former service people to asbestos.

• Ending lawsuit abuse aimed at America's small and family-owned businesses that have never manufactured or sold asbestos, forcing healthy enterprises into bankruptcy, destroying jobs and employees' livelihoods.

"Every day this vote is delayed is another day that opportunistic plaintiffs' lawyers continue to game the judicial system in search of the next big asbestos jackpot.  And, it's another day when a true asbestos victim goes without fair compensation to treat their asbestos related injury.  Senator Frist must bring the FAIR Act to the Senate floor now," concluded Mazzella.

The Center for Individual Freedom (www.cfif.rog) is a non-profit constitutional and free-market advocacy organization.

• To download a copy of this letter, click here.