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Asbestos trial takes toll on judge By STEPHEN TARNOFF SAN FRANCISCO--For San Fran cisco Superior Court Judge Ira A. Brown Jr., the past two years of presiding over one of the largest* most complex trials ever has been a monumental task. But Judge Brown, who in 1981 ordered that separate lawsuits in volving several asbestos producers and their 75 to 100 liability insur ers be combined, still believes his approach was better than trying the cases separately. "I'm still convinced if it was going to be tried, they had to be tried together.'' Judge Brown said in a recent interview with Business Insurance. The massive litigation ultimately became too big to hold in the courtroom in state Superior Court and was moved to a school audi torium. "I think the auditorium worked very well." he said. The past two years of litigation have taken a personal and profes sional toll on Judge Brown. "I haven't done anything else for two years and four months," he said. But. he added, ``I've never had to worry about what to do the next day." Judge Brown has not missed a day of the trial because of illness. He speculated that the trial could end by mid-year or early next year. "We may be looking at a third anniversary," he noted. He said that when the trial began, he did not anticipate that it would go on for two years. He estimated that, at most, it would last IV? years. Judge Brown expresses few re grets. one being the order he issued prior to the trial that required in volved parties produce "all rele vant documents." According to an attorney in the litigation, the order for documents was interpreted broadly and was "extremely onerous" to the parties who risked sanctions if they did not comply. In addition to the hard legal issues presented by the case, prob ably the "thorniest problem" has been dealing with the evidentiary issues, such as which evidence is admissible against which parties, he noted. "It's the hardest problem in the conduct of the trial," he con tended. Once Judge Brown rules on the critical trigger of coverage and dutv-to-defend issues argued dur ing the recently concluded third phase of the trial, those decisions could encourage the parties to set tle. according to some observers. But Judge Brown is uncertain what impact those decisions, which are expected soon, will have on other litigation. But he pointed out that some at torneys have indicated that the volume of the record and the infor mation provided is so extensive that his decisions may have an im pact on other asbestos and toxic tort insurance coverage cases. Phase 3 of the trial, which lasted 14 months, encompassed extensive testimony on the medical aspects of asbestos-related diseases and the history of the drafting of insur ance policies. "It (the trial) is more than I've ever wanted to know." about insurance, he said. Judge Brown was formerly with the San Francisco firm of Thelen. Marrin. Johnson & Bridges, where he did not practice insurance law. 43A-5 BUSINESS INSURANCE WEEKLY 45,000 MARCH IB, 1987 Fiber industry shaken by new cancer evidence Mew York Times News Service North America and Europe who WASHINGTON--Emerging produced them and were first ex evidence that fiberglass and other posed to relatively low levels of manufactured mineral fibers may airborne fibers at least 30 years cause lung cancer and other dis earlier. Scientists who have re eases is creating a sensitive and viewed the studies agree that these potentially far-reaching new public workers show a higher rate of lung health issue. cancer than would normally be ex The evidence, although far from pected. conclusive, is sending tremors Industry officials insist that the through the fiber industry and fed evidence about fiberglass and other eral. regulatory agencies. Industry synthetic mineral fibers is incon officials, however, insist that the clusive and that it is just as likely evidence shows no health problem. that the worker deaths found in These synthetic fibers, already in the studies were caused by other use as building materials, insula factors, such as smoking, exposure tion, in cars, fiimiture, packaging to cancer-causing chemicals and and other applications in a $3 bil- family history. And even if the lion-a-year industry, are increas synthetic fibers did cause cancer, ingly being employed as substitu they said, the exposure levels were tes for asbestos, a known cause of so low that there would be no seri cancer aruCoUfier. serious illness. ous public health threat. Now, studies of the workers who But in the past few months, the make fiberglass, rock wool and manufacturers of fiberglass and ceramic fibers, as well as tests on related products, including Owens- laboratory animals, suggest that Corning Fiberglas, Certainteed the substitutes may also pose a Corp. and Manville Corp., have health threat. revised technical data sheets re The results of the studies have quired by the Occupational Safety caused a flurry of activity in the and Health law to state that recent industry. Manufacturers of the epidemiological studies have found synthetic fibers have undertaken their products may cause lung costly studies on the health effects cancer. of their products and are consul Most of the more than a dozen ting with federal regulators. scientists, public health officials If the fibers prove to be a seri and federal 'regulators interviewed ous health threat, it could result in recently said that even if the evi loss of. sales, expensive damage dence' about synthetic fibers claims and extensive measures to causing cancer proved correct, the reduce exposure among workers country probably would not be and possibly the genera] public. facing another health disaster of The studies that are generating the dimensions of the asbestos epi the most concern about the health demic. The number of premature effects of synthetic mineral fibers cancer deaths caused by asbestos were based op an examination of is now estimated at 9,000 a year mortality records of workers in and rising. uZi m03 CJ CO f--i m o --I C<Or --cn CnJ - re --c cj m mo - cm o Oi r"Ov r i o- 03 cn ID X U cc <r 21 HWBUI0006324