Document Qa3914jRjQRO38nw5oNVQbLk

PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT ST0106133 No: Courts Are on Course BY KENNETH R. FEINBERG manifestation of injury. Other judges--such as federal The traditional tort problem Judge Jack Weinstein--have gone a I agree that the best, most taught in law school--one plaintiff, step further and have tried to use effective way to resolve, the current one defendant and one injury alleg the federal class action device as a asbestos litigation crisis in ourstate edly linked to the harm--is of little vehicle for consolidating the cases and federal courts is by means of utility in the modem mass tort case. in an effort to encourage a national federal legislation. There are too many parties and too settlement. Whether such legislation takes many conflicting causes of the in If these examples constitute the form of procedural reform-- jury. One can begin to appreciate "judicial activism" they should be making it easier for the courts to the dilemma confronting our state welcomed. In the absence of sorely consolidate asbestos personal injury and federal judges. needed federal legislation, the actions in one forum--orconstitutes The judiciary cannot stand idly courts have no alternative but to a national compensation scheme by while litigants wait 10 years for step into the breach and forge inno similar to the existing black lung a trial date. Nor arejudges comfort vative alternatives to a "one case at program, is a matter to be debated able with erratic jury verdicts in a time" trial schedule, lb suggest in the hails of Congress. such cases, which resemble more a that the judiciary should wait until But since it is extremely un roll of the dice than principled deci our system of justice collapses and likely that, in an era of-shrinking sion-making. Congress is compelled to intervene budgets and mushrooming deficits, is to ignore the present suffering . a gun-shy Congress will enact such Lot Jwdgas flflak* Isfsnu and legitimate complaints of a vast legislation, our federal-and' state Instead, judges are fitting the number of litigants. judges have no choice but to come to void by initiating various reforms The founding fathers neverimag grips with the hard reality of thou on their own designed to expedite ined in their wildest dreams that sands of asbestos personal injury the litigation and bring some consis the specter of mass tort litigation casea flooding current court dockets. tency to the verdicts rendered. Con would haunt our courts. But asbes Business as usual will not do. solidated trials, bifurcated and tri tos, Agent Orange, the Daikon Asbestos litigation, perhaps, is' furcated proceedings, and use of Shield and Bendectin are just the the beet example of . the growing special settlementmasters are some first examples of a new type of problem of mass tort litigation, in of the means increasingly being litigation that will continue to flour which literally thousands of plain used by the judiciary. ish and pose a threat to the fair and tiffs and hundreds of defendant But even those creative judges orderly administration ofjustice. companies find themselves in the who have employed these and other If Congress will not act, our courtroom. Compounding the crisis reforms, such as Judge Marshall courts will continue to develop inno --of numbers is the complex problem Levin in Baltimore andJustice Helen vative ways to deal with the litiga nF raufffltiyn, reWting from a ja- Freedman in New York City, ac tion crisis. tency period _of 20-or 30 years knowledge their limited utility in lb those who criticize such between, exposure to the asbestos-- securing a comprehensive resolu initiatives, a simple question ia containing product and eventual tion of the overall problem. posed--what is the alternative? ABA JOURNAL/MAY 1991 =- ... Jud9e Orders New Jury Selected In Asbestos Trial After Fax Mixup BALTIMORE (AP)--A judge diwiiwd prospec uyejurorsyesterday in (he nation's largest consolidation ^ofajbesraj personal in iuryvaso-became a confidential defense document was mistakenly sent to the'Opposing side. The misdirected fas. containing psychological pro files of prospective jurors prepared by defense attorneys for insulation manufacturers, was sent to attorneys for the alleged asbestos victims. Baltimore Circuit Court fudge Marshal A. Levin ruiedjhe document gave the plaintiffs an unfair edge and ordered that a new jury be selected, delaying the trial by weeks. "I find that the plaintiffs' attorneys have an . advantage over the defense attorneys. The plaintiffs know pretty well which prospective jurats the defense is going to strike," Levin said. "They know the innermost thinking of the defense counsel." Levin struck ail 51 prospective jurats. It had taken a month to select than from among hundreds of questionnaires and interviews. Jury selection was expected to begin again today. The trial is expected to last several months, and lawyers for the 9,032 plaintiffs say each delay means more asbestos victims die without receiving compensation. Many of the nlamfifft jmer.steel and dimvaM workers in Baltimore ^K-Thaidled asbestos insularTM matmalLWltfinut nratcctive dothina. Inhalin. ashes.TM has been linked to luna diseases, including cancer. The defendants are It) tnsulattoo makers, including . Fihreboard Cons, GAF Corp. and Owens Coning Fiberglas Carp. Lawyers for the insulation companies requested a mistrial after a secretary pushed the wrong button on the office fax machine, sending the report to the Philadelphia office of a law firm representing IS plaintiffs. Copies of the report were distributed among the plaintiff lawyers, but the lawyers then surrendered them to the judge. Levin sealed them so the jurats would not learn which were deemed unfavorable to the insulation makers. One plaintiff lawyer agreed with the insulation companies that the mistake gave the plaintiffs an unfair advantage. Other plaintiff lawyers said the transmission mistaken or not, made the report public knowlede:. es & S2 IS*