Document n54eJMRbGqaL6938MpmaxdgX

Australia The Wall "Toxic torts" burgeon as CSR concedes ack m tbe "lbs, when Australia's illegal. lawyer* do not see themselves as Beleventh largest company, CSR being isa positiontogive moral advice.** Ltd,, faced the hm othwidxeds of So. despite evidence from CSR'* own daims by ei-eraptoyees that the WittHeine*s that raise oecutires knewas far bach oem asbestos mint in Western Austra*lialira '40* that asbestos mining could bad caused incurable lung diseases, cots' trigger lung diseases, the company and its {stay legal advast and CSR't insurance ensure* for eleven year* fought all company faced two drakes. Rom its dying former worker* in six One was to offer eompertsatioo. separate end hugely expensive supreme Potential victimscodd be ttaenlaad their court ease in Victoria and Western doom* warned. Morayoaald be spent on Australia. research to tty atop tbea dying. But it All the Blips**, and the Penh-herod could have eou CSR--through its wholly- Asbestos Diseases Association, which baa owned subsidiary MidsJco Ply. Ud., campaigned for them, daim (bat poor which ran the ratine--perhaps S3J million safety condition* caused the lung disrupt ia eottpesaatios payment*. the victims' soheater* sow esiouta. Ii also meant ad- raatieig that safely regulations to contain Wittesoom's deadly blue asbestos dust had beeninadequate. Theothertactic open to the sugar and construction giant was some variant on a popular pay at courtroom*. Lawjat* eaS it the Wag ofFleshdefease. Ggamte and ether major companies feeing the ftrwwtefiry of Mg friayow on wgl^eB chans such the courtroom with teams of lugfapoirered lawyer* to argae minute pomts oflaw and maneuver torespensive adjosmoerau. CSR record*. secret ua(M last week, draw that Ha legal adviser*, too, saw ad* vantages for the company m denying afi Whteaoom dram*and fitting evtey case tothe legal finish.On September28.1977. top Sydney law firm Frcdull HoCingdak and Page told CSRthatdespitelira ethical arguments "we are ofthe view that there Ib^mhieywMwftoadBowqniraaoctidm^gdtfcomluraiwar are fubsendal legal barriers to be over- omebyadaimast.Therefore, istheeot&* isbcTtoaaadme*othfKom*,aEireinag' Isstoty--CSR hired right banister* and pasyt best interests any move outside tira Me tumoroftbe taag thatcats take20 to solicitor*, fedudisg two QCt, who had legal fortihealMsn should only be raodet. 40 you* to appear. Overthese yean many tbeirowncomputerdata bant. Banister*' taken after weighty deliberation." The courtroomsus*thespecterofho&oweycd tea and othercosts ran to anestimated S5 company's insurer*. the Penh-baaed State o-na&gV 'Some stai&f day after day in ao on both sides. Peter Hey*, 49,dkd Gorenarant lesuraace Commiston wheelchair*ago tooxygentanks. froet reesrahriioma jo April 1988, half (SCKT), added: "If we lose, we w3 be in no Conrafie* Maas was the first miser to wiy through tbe baring. "CSR always wotieapositionthanifwedecided to mem era. But be died from cancer before tbe daisied that it was concerned about 'pre thedaim " case reachedcourt. In 1980, Joaraiooacs, tender*,' " says Melbourne ntidtor Peter lit cold-blooded amustiag and legal arms* there was no contest. Indeed, given shareholders' fetenots and CSR** vast Si, who contracted mesothetiom# tdW Gordon, who ran many of the vksims' working a* a derk at Wruasoom, (fed 30 crates. Tbe people proved they were not minutes before her appeal against an ad* pretender* by promptly dying." Sons of financial and legal resource*, lawyers versejudgmentwasto Irabeard- thoseinvolved had effectively predicted as would have been incompetent ie suggest* Throughout the '80s, CSR. the sate much, A former safety officer at Witte- ag any other task. Says Dr. Kathryn Cronin, a Uuvcmty of New South Wales lawlecturer "Legal ethics are the! lawyers and (he WA government, which wu also bring sued, defended doggedly, la the ICk month case fought by ei-Witunooe wee n quoted m another 1977 rutenul CSR document a*commenting that "men iftbe workers die like flies, they will never sum fight as hard astheycan i the incer* worker*Peter Hey*and Tran Barrow om beabletopinanythingonCSR." esu oftheir chenl without doinganything of the loBgcg civil action* kt Austnltan Until a rapid aeries ofcoon deemon* PLAINTIFFS EXHIBIT JU2JcJt WV-003987 1TM.*** If WBawwrnlwr.a fBrerMfih. I'lDe da year. GSR's defense hdd firm. In the first eftte. fooght {a 1977 In Perth, the judge btM thaufacre imissuaiaeMproof that lire worker's lung disease was at tributable to negggea* wort praaka at Wktcooom, asd CSR *t on to w two oftipenfivecases. * Then this )mr, ex-misee Colin Watoa, SZ,who adying from asbestosa, was awarded aeu% S37&QOO by the WA St^mee Court. Peter Heys and Tim Sutowtogetherwoo sore than Si7lfi00> And hut month tbe Victorian Supreme Court upheld a jury verdkt to award 52ycar-tid formerWittenoom workerKlaus Rabessll S250.000 ic fftempU/y damage* oo top ofa 8423,000compensation payout because ofindustrial negligence. h wax die dm tone that poo&ve dam age bad beep awarded in an Aastiajiao bOns&sl Mgtigntetr tiara. Mr. intake Kayeobserved thatastrongease bad bosn Bade to support a finding ofretidnwa. ''indeedofeooduung.consdov*owl eontumetiour (hmniliaUng} disregard by the defendant for tirepWaalT*right to be free froa risinginjury ordiseaae " The Reboot case set a piaxdent and. Breed with the inevitable. CSR managing director Jan Burgew decided to eeUk. By then, the company bed spew to estimated $20 mtflioa m kgal fees on rtf defense. Burgees now toys CSS's liability to the 2S8 ca-empfoycct who are string for cam- peeuaciOBis SheJy tobeS50Sk>n, T^sia Criucs accuse (be West Australian government and u Department of Mines of ignoring the dangers in their desire to see mineral development in tbe north at any price, For a time Wtueooom was seen as one of the peat hopes of WA adv* arsemenv.Theborne reality: the scale now has the highest rate of mesothelioma of anyregionio theworld. Tbe ca&ftg of ora phase of the legal batik last week only served to trigger another. Burgessannounced that CSR was also now taking to coun hs main insurer, the SCTC, whose managingdirector, frank Mitchell, hadjrgcdlfe8t CSgjnd Msdalcohadikitcdi^iaVc teasoftabWsafetypre cautions at WiKeaoom sod had thmfore nude their insurance cover "inoperative." CSPLm wim. unounced thatM waagoiag to we thesotefor S)Q million. "I am cer tainly oot going to kuhe SCK walk away from their financial respoasibiitry," Burgcusnapped CSR's humBratroo continued when confidential company files were broadcast os the Nine Network's program Bu&uu Sunday, They shewed company exe cutive, as wen as the WA Mines Depart- man,badtedgknows thattottingWueas bestoscarried health risks. , *. The most damning !S-year-oid memo ? referred to a warnrag I giveo in 1948. four yean after mmiog at Wiite- noombegan, by thelocal Roy^I Flying Doctor, based on its Usurer's estimatesxrtdincludes ah Dr. Eric Sahu. Saint, now a professor *i the fsture tielttt Kit a Utavenhy of WA. rt- record 6200 raison to S400 cailion total coo- alh: "I nttto the WA Commasoner of Heahb Ctic>o payout maybe ed, according to some legal and auric* analysts. The final amount depends on bow many of tbe 7,000 Wittenoem workmcootraa asbetnesrior mesothelio ,^ mss"-- (ra I94g>, f said that it would probably be tire knggpst eptiesuc of asbemreii tire world had everknown. That was on the ceeotd. Tbce l spoke to tbe local mnegfr and told him that thiswasO* ma. Stephen Woodward, tmptiy dangerous. t**i& as anti-cancer activist CWbgimir QarldidB--am that almost eenti&iy and former Uoivenityof withsa a few years pares WA researcher, behoves that more than ofmbmtostt would erese.** Aslaleas Ust 1,8)0 pco^c could the. S*y* Woodwasd: month. CSR was specifically denying that "IberatewtSaccefcnie huethe 1990s.Tbe b# deaths wSJ oat stop istil tbesecond or thirddecadeof theaouastury." While events have unfolded in board- * had been waned by Saint, or that the warning had been paired on. Yet an tm- agned drift memo, dated Juee 12, 1974. aed headed Press Ertquny--Mesotirelio- rooms and courtrooms,thedomed mb* hjrif has become a urusr histone rebc. Wftteaooou which lies in tbe shadow of (be Haraerefcy range. 1.6O0'kilometers ma confirmed that Stiat had Indeed given wareiftgsabout Witteflooa. Is another doaorent, dated June 18. 1974,a CSRexecutive referred toan over north of Penh, was always a pkee of shredsaadpatches,withrundown bousing cosmos*m bungalows. Once therevresao seas trip as far back as 194$ from which "we were aware of$o*ra danger from the inhalation of asbestos fiber, Initially we much dot and fibo from the mine that understood this to bo tiznilof to s&mit Wiueooom't stress were NteraSy paved with blue asbestos. During its years of opoaihmfram 1944 to W66.at>*$umeA 20-600workers andtheirfamilies helped to producedfiOQionsofrefined fibera year. bat later beard of atirestosi* and other related diseases." During court battle*. Catranhaentiredticareon tirebaskthat ti did nor koowofthd risk and could not have been reasonablyexpected to know in tWE.ocromn,mi the circumstances. Documents reveal that itsexecutive* knew by 197? that more and mote ofits worker* could die of meswhefcoau, "I avoutraged when J reed the com pany documents," up Penh sotetor John Gordon. 29. who represented many of the Wtuenoom nr&< it wts unmoral for CSR to sit back and do no thing tod l people die. Aod they woe dying not knoWtg whether tbejr families would feelooked after." Io the IChnontls Heyt/Btrrow-vsse. CSR`s QC* required cbe plaintiff io grave every minute point, prove every document ted photograph. Says sobtiror Pile Gordon, 31. ia Melbourne: ~M ooe sage, e wanted to pattn e letterfrom to employee who t$ dead. They knew be was deed. We knew he was dad. But they would aocttew thetellerto goin mail aw proved (hat be nt dad. That involved adjourning the ease, looking for bis widow, making application to the registrer for births. deaths and marriage. and (ben tenderingthedeath certificate." BuiGSR's ttupotwe relations duet Keith Roberta, say* suggestion* of dcte.yg tactics are War Crimes Conflictatetasi *7c the Heyr/Barrow cam, no agreed io as expedited hearing which al* lowed thecasestojumpthequeue." Liberalspushfor changes that Labor will not accept Perhaps partly as a result of Wteteo- Wooa, corporate negligence claims are on tile ipggaae in Aa&trwMa^judges, rotWri, has*cootplaknedthat tiny aredoggieg up. bDe tprrial investigator Robert aid to be doseto eomptetiog ihtir tnvesti- Gimgwood,QC.contimKa to tsuvcl gatioasof 16 caces involving allegatiOAS of Jhe world a search of evidence agsninriuttder and mass murder.- None of (hoe theceum. Lawyers haveajokephrase for alleged Nati wvaimoscfc firing u Aun- cases util proceed unless the bgitiatioB it them: "teafe torn,** which covers claims nha, there an growing doubts that (he tanging ftom the allegedly defective legislation to enabfe their proatcution is The oppotitioB *y*fa* hi concern Daikon Shield IUO contraceptive device Australian courts will be passed to hapro about the legislation when Greenwood's 6J ferafcraxnr serf to havebeatadaeod sealform. mrestigatiofts * criticized last week by by passive smokhtg. After a SenatecorbrHmc inquiry inte shadowattorney-general Neil Brown,who To pnreem thisgrowingdts*fhfiga* the (*y*tM^**" b February, (be Federal accused the investigators ofistenogatiog tme Eros fitenily f**gg*"p the legal Government's War Omcs Anaodmenu titrec people without cautioning there. It system, the Ausrafiaa Law ReformCons- BiS was fisted for cossidcation in the scontrarytoafiprinciplesfor government has proposed that Aomalia Senate in Aprfl, bm debase has bees agents to n as ift bill that is before par* should adopt a system of data actios delayed partly bream ofprolonged nego Samari baabees paned intolaw,** besaid. wherebyoac grespofBtigaatscanme tsa tiations ores opposition ameadaeais to Brown also critirtred Prime Miteier Bob representative opacity, with the deowon the b& No agreement has been reached. Hawkewho. on a tefevuaoB program,said feastdagonaD pankL The Government argues that the amend* (hat some of the crimes comrmttcd by Out actions pomndaiy reduce coats mum are cither uanecssary or would people Greenwood was looking at were tad six. tbe oa probfaro with masa motto1pnxeeutiear utpuaaflik!. "HUkebofTadom." *ThrPrimeMatixer pUiatifffitigaticm. They also slop corpora* Tba heft is now likely to be wandered seemed to be prejudging eases before they (loss tedsvitiuaSBng cases by promoting by the SenateooNovember I and U prom had even gone to court.** said Brown. damage crideoce of wayward behavior ises to be a lengthy and diffie& debate. "Thu'snotacceptable," Theexchangebe against a sole Btigini and implying that Some opposition senators, mdudiog tween Hawke and Brown was just a taste the t^ury may have bees aggravated or liberal David Hamer and (he National ofthestrongreactions thewarcrimesiatte caused by that behavior- Bui buriftaw Pwty't John Stone, hare bees strong is likely to rarie oner (he debate is the leaden mongiy oppose class action tegi* entire of the kgtetio&. Stone has - Senategetsunderway. tiatioe. fearing (hat it will set offa rash of prosed the Cm that It would bad ttfsbow The war Crimea N&. which we&t frivtiousdahm. tiubtawWdiswpeciSovia-aottfeedevid- through the House ofRepresentative* last They also ofejecr to the possiMiry erxawould bewed Otherqaposttioepob- December, has already provoked strong ofoaoftflgwr who hare oor eempfetacd ekaaac Hit Libenf SenatorPcutBavme, reactions b> scene of Amoaik't atiutic hot* a corporation's behavior being have made ft dear they will support the tioramsutks. and politicians across the evened in a cfess action agaissi (hat fegUlsuortevenif(heoppositiondecidesto pobtical spcetnsn have been subjected to crenpiBy, Says Give Speed of the Busi oppose H sustained lobbying campaigns by repre ness Coved! of Australia: **1 bare never Meaawt^e. Greenwood and hH (cam sentatives of the Baltie and Ukrainian tees Amtratian business and industry so erf nresa%aion hare spent mote than St communities. They warn the legislation to suited on an issue. The dan action pro eti&oa oavdag to Israd. the Xhated be either dropped altogether or substant posal has pobrixed bBsaaos and con- States. Europead the Sowe* Utioc gath ially modified so that aS Sovxt-aoureed aunuts." miifliami iiiini) ering evidence for proaeeutioaa. They are evidence is automatically excluded from 66 miE.ocroDeR n.irea