FACTBOX - Key Provisions of US Senate Asbestos Bill

FACTBOX - Key Provisions of US Senate Asbestos Bill

USA: May 27, 2005

WASHINGTON - Key provisions of a US Senate bill to take asbestos injury claims out of the courts and pay them from a $140 billion privately-financed fund.

FUNDING - Companies will pay $90 billion over 30 years based on prior asbestos expenditures and revenues. Insurers will pay $46 billion over 27 years. The bill assumes $4 billion will come from existing asbestos bankruptcy trusts.

MANAGEMENT - The Asbestos Injury Claims Resolution Fund will be managed by the Office of Asbestos Disease Compensation in the US Department of Labor.

AWARDS -- There are nine levels of awards, based on severity of illness. Payments range from $25,000 for breathing impairment up to $1.1 million for victims of mesothelioma, a particularly lethal cancer of the membrane lining the chest and abdominal cavities. Lung cancers start at $300,000. Medical monitoring is provided for claimants with asbestos exposure but no symptoms.

CRITERIA - Claimants must have at least five years of cumulative occupational exposure to asbestos, or "take-home" exposure of the same length of time. Cash recipients must have characteristic "markers" of asbestos exposure in their lungs.

Claims must be filed within five years of diagnosis. There are no limits on additional awards if the disease progresses.

COURTS - Asbestos claims that have not progressed to trial must go to the fund. People with urgent claims can choose to seek a court settlement, but cannot recover more than 150 percent of the equivalent fund award.

If the fund is not up and running in nine months, urgent claims can return to court. Other claims can return to court if the fund is not up and running in two years.

EXCEPTIONS - A claimant who does not meet the medical criteria can still apply. A medical panel would review the claim. The final decision is made by the administrator.

WORKERS COMPENSATION -- A fund payment will not affect a claim relating to workers' compensation or insurance payments.

MONTANA CLAUSE -- Residents of Libby, Montana, are exempted from having to show exposure if they have lived in the town or within 20 miles of it for 12 months prior to Dec. 31, 2004. Libby residents who meet certain medical criteria would automatically be awarded at least $400,000 each.

ATTORNEYS FEES -- Capped at 5 percent of final fund awards.

END OF THE FUND - The program cannot terminate before a review and the fund administrator has been given a chance to revise the program, such as by proposing new medical criteria. Upon termination, claims can return to court.

ASBESTOS BAN - Within a year of enactment, the fund administrator will develop regulations prohibiting the manufacture, processing or distribution of asbestos-containing products. The Department of Defense can exempt asbestos products important to national security.