Document rBG2w4jZoKJMgMB34D7K3xQG0

FILE NAME: Asbestos Information Association (AIA) DATE: 1977 Mar2 DOC#: AIA034 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Memo to AIA RE Availability of Services from Special Counsel * q vj*'-y ,t.o:TScr*a.nc<u.,r. iv* lo CwXr.zri rks oc :he Legcl-iedioal Hesoared Cernii-ss a' neettr.K held .in itew fork City or. ii-ondavj re t r-'''- s/> defies?rntug the services that are row available :'rcn ov. a Bank rxn under took e-.*e pr ^ \&C-1 initial contilet wi th co: counsel were made X*eg;irC status of pending cases. , soon became CfevlOil< ]ZX& :riev&sle cLv5- <1era.11ab`Li? ill ftlA/l'A members. furthermore, there was a pronounced confusion and iaci-: of comprePension by mar*y comparsios r&jcare **'"`Vdvi' vsri piis suits is Whlch they vire named as dafar p n *r.&ry reason for this A5*^ecAtA-we of *.ii>?-;rs r-'itx'c; ^r v /V^*>) do ito: c fferas were ccntroiled by i f"5i>iS.X*apee o&+?V1X'5 >dio deal t; o n stari.':y on a;', ac hoc bSsiS tw*A^UWh loca I ceunsik1 c.r.d i t u X tem 23.ma* many companies lacked She lateral or out sic staff to under take coordination of the rapidly muXfcipiyiftg lawsuits in various jurislic tions,, There were patently adverse effects Shat floved from td* foregoing conditions: (1) companies experienced great difficulty in coordinating discovery and responses to dis covery; fii) companies experienced difficulty in quantifying potential exposure for financial reporting purposes; and (ill* different statpgic and tactical approaches vers being rilcws-d in the various, jurisdictions by the sar.e c~fendarcs, 4 1 Our firs has camplied data from various repositories of information concerning past and pending court actions, he - hove concentrated on defining for each case: (i) the phase of industry or chain of distribution invoXv&d; (ii> the types of injuries claimed; (ill) the theories of liability . and defense that have bean advanced: and Civ} examples of discovery and responses on a selective basis, to overriding consideration has eon to establish a system, that allows f y o o c r j q-iick retrieval of available information. ^ ~ gj The data bank is built around the following index keys: U ) jurisdictions in which cases have bean brought or ere pending; Cli) the particular injuries claimed; (ill) todividual and corporate defendants by name; Civ) s,i. gn,,ifica^nt- ito* '~ discovery, emphasising,interrogatories and depositions; (v) Item 23,max cour; decisions and, orders; ~hd (vi) attorneys of record', o' the estent that ravj informasion das been distills and organised lr, the cat a baai<:i the foregoing index keys allow a rsaxindtation of retrieval '07 rxon-at terney staff at a rapid rate yr --S-V:esfcs for informat ion frer, >J*v1.. respect to past ar.d rsj'.ci. litigation. As info; uiov. 15 r-csivec, if is srsiys: integrated into the ex4s t ^ ~ ~-,.is.i-da!-nn. -v..j.--s. oyster, e-s, expand. able to enable flexible integration of nw data. Vs Wish to encourage the werr.hers of AIA/Mi to oonp.y vrptn our requests for infornafeior.. 'fhe advantages to be gained from completing the data bank on court actions as far &$ possible include the following; (i) rapid avail ability of prior ces* iafe nation; (ii) a source to facilitt* lbs determination 0 f consistency of defense positions, or lack thereof; and. Ciii) a sys teen that provides examples of star.dardixted pleading iorvus and comparatire discovery instruments arc papers. V cceitemplate* that the investment of attorney tie4 xhich has beep heavy up untii about two weeks ago, can be considerably downgraded in connection with future operation of the data bank, !?he established systeis alloxs for clerical intgrt ion of data received in the future, fhe same is true in the case of retrieval. ~$- Item 23.max 'Th heart o che Saca bank consists of ttl&z established covering the following subjects C'/ A*.C...VOCUC.L l&a&ults, including significant pi ladings and discover?; Ui. files or* attorneys representing plaintiffs or defendants; uii'- files or. medical experts including curricula neawranda of interviews., specialties and ratings; (iv) sate-*!* fitting to the medical portion of tite Co^atfae's project; ( ? ) responses fco cuesticona.I.rss transiti;tec b y cur i'irr, to AIA/1M mestbers; <n) .forti pleadings and discovery; ar.d :vii) source materials of & nature not ^rci^/- v>_ foregoing. " Korabers of AA/MA are invited to direno racu&sts for any information from, the data bank to ither jfigs Crey Oross cr myself at the offices of Cadwalader, Wickersham & far 2 * Sfe&ta .of the Agfa Da fens 6 m '$3 Philip EntCbline, PhD, has completad a survey of ^ha nagiish language* medical literatura on the subject of the reiafc.iort.ship be tucen asbestos s/aa testos dost and lung cancsr, facing sheets and abstracta from materials reviewed have teen provided to the Committee. Copies of the''complete r.edacai studies and reports reviewed by Or. tnterlins are available from out offices, tie anticipate providing to. Hem. 23. max k .<U,,A*A. a iss;ai. ^r.srgp.diiin en the state of the ;r- ~s . in light of * - < * , already ' l.,fO Shbjecfc S5 th e e d i f i c a t i o n t h a t a d d i t i o n a l Z .O a. I .:-...ViTlp;-^ef''c^ af - .-c'i' ~ u r . o...r , t a r i fne ** pice M i l e<? complte by the end or Aon:, ' ~ yifbf5$" s tu d y. i s yb e in g >jwros..dy ^ . ^ 5 *r>.g,,,, .U3-j,ecc o-, ' * ' A is w . a c e r l t n * cat* h i s s t a f f 8 review ing th a problem of tas *ai *$*-* <, _ ^ '' --- <'~C"S-*-? Potvean asbestos ex p o siirs a ^ d ecx ";->"r*'s=: ""s- - iS,,.n carc in o m a o f th e lu n g . J ' ex p ert f i t n e s ses. our i;.ra has inServiaspecwt *&- **>1^,-o.^a,*r, os p o y s.ic i.a n s raeoritenda by Uaft b e l U *; b ** , _ ^ ' l* * '* '> aS p o t e n t i a l e x p e r ts . <fhe * " " o f h e s p e rs o n s JUm i r i t h g u r r i o u i a have b e ^ ^ 64 SO " ? * * * < tistri& at ion as possib le .*e n e c i n t e n d i n g c a s e s , w* o u id be p le a s e d to d is c u s s che needs o f in d iv id u a l com panies in a c q u irin g * x?w t te s t - o n y on e ith e r sp e c ific problem s r e la tin g to le g a l actio n s o r th e s ta te o f the m edical a r t dafer.ee, ^00g g - to Defense Counsel 83 As presently s w i s h e d , 0 w flilM are available C PW,Yltfe * * * * < * on past and pending oa**s, d*,a bunit syatOK is set up e a-nd. auaits * -ponses fcrom i.ndivi,dual , f. ** v terr- ^.inax companies as they are received. Ths materials and answers o the questionnaire seat cue by spacial counsel will be cabiiiojggd anc the information can be retrieved almost totally by non-attorneys. It Is presently confcsr.plated that tha only cases in, the fufccx^ on this phase or the pncject will be primarily non "legal, clerical and duplication costs. The names and sons curricula vitae of ampere medical wltrasses have tses made available through ftr. C'sarsrass' office in Washi: rk.*r- -cid/v'/ tonal expert witnesses ara needed, we rave the ability ta sesie rsi'errtls from notait''a1 experts already submitted to Atk/M. Ctrfidemial information on ''ratings'* cf the screened expert witnesses is available also, <\ number of legal memoranda h&Ve been provided to members of k l A / S A . These include eisorasd* on statutes of limitations, resolution of. cigarsUe~eaneer litigation, the doctrine of collateral estoppel and ether matters. if ary member of AA/SA desires a copy of any 0f the foregoing memoranda, simply let us know and we shall provide the p m c requested material-. '83 There is available forms of standardized pleadings and tuseocerj . by the e,nd of April, a eEiorandusi will be distributed detailing the availability of these forms - It should be noted that we have assisted counsel for individual companies in preparing responses to interrogatories, h -6- HemSa.msx C o n clu sio n w A i present our firn is prepared feo act as a clearing: house tor data that is supplied by individual eccpaay defendants, V are also prepared feo assist individual ccopanies in .forniulating answers and responses to discovery., as v .x li &s other pertinent irforsation on ashestos-rolated disease cases. Each neither is invited to contact us whenever the need arises. fc'SAJr , ^ODIICEB 83 !tem.21max