I saw a full-page advert in the Sunday paper-talking about how you have until Jan.15, 2003, to submit a claim against USG Corpration. Just log on to : WWW.USGCLAIMS.COM to find out how!
I have a house built in 1925, and the heating pipes are insulated with asbestos…I’m starting to think that I’m having difficulty breathing!
Now, I understand that the defendants are all in bankruptcy court-so will filing a claim pay off for me?
I’ve been thinking that a claim for $150 million or so is about right-whaddaya think?
>an excerpt - Outlandish Claims
The biggest headache for insurers and companies in America is litigation by claimants who are not seriously ill, against companies with only a peripheral connection with asbestos. Of about 91,000 cases filed last year, only 6% of claimants actually suffered from an asbestos-related illness. Almost all other claimants demanded compensation for anxiety over the risk that they might have asbestosis. Since almost every past manufacturer of asbestos is now out of business, companies that may have used a product containing asbestos—from car makers to petrochemical companies—are being sued, along with those that transported the stuff.
By the time all asbestos claims are settled, they will have cost insurers and companies far more than the $40 billion-60 billion of losses from last September’s terrorist attacks. A study by Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, an actuary, reckons that the total cost of asbestos claims worldwide will eventually be around $200 billion, with over $120 billion borne by the insurance industry. More than 50 American companies have been driven into bankruptcy since the first asbestos-related lawsuit was filed in 1966, in Beaumont, Texas. Many more are likely to go bust.
The Supreme Court has twice pleaded with Congress to legislate to end the flood of litigation. But the Association of Trial Lawyers, the staunchest opponents of tort reform—that is, reform of personal-injury legislation—is a powerful lobby and has blocked reform measures.<