An expert warns:
McCain tobacco proposal bad news for asbestos victims

A urgent cry came over the Internet recently: "The McCain tobacco bill has a little-realized bail-out for the asbestos industry," asbestos expert Dr. Barry Castleman wrote in a discussion group dedicated to tobacco legislation. (See Castleman's book, Asbestos: medical and legal aspects, Prentice Hall Law & Business, 1990.)

Castleman cited a recent analysis by Baltimore attorney Shepard Hoffman, who argues that former asbestos companies will get a windfall if the McCain bill passes in its present form. "Shepard Hoffman in Baltimore has sent out a letter analyzing the main defects of the asbestos part of this smoking gun and what can be done to cure them," Castleman wrote.

In fact, Hoffman has written three or four letters about asbestos and the proposed tobacco settlement. He distributed those letters to more than 1,000 lawyers who represent asbestos plaintiffs. It's part of a grass-roots effort to change the McCain bill, but Hoffman admits its an uphill struggle. Asbestos defendants will spend outspend the loosely organized plaintiff's lobby by as much as 10 to 1.

Hoffman's main complaint about the McCain bill is that would use money collected in the tobacco settlement to pay asbestos damages. The theory behind the plan is that asbestos companies have for years been paying for lung cancer damages that were caused, at least in part, by tobacco. Cigarettes and asbestos are a deadly combination. No one disputes that. But Hoffman does take issue with the asbestos plaintiffs' argument that Big Tobacco owes them money. "This is like Al Capone saying John Dillinger owes him money," Hoffman said, in an interview with the Frankenfeld Report.

He also thinks the argument is a bit hypocritical. Asbestos lawyers have been beating asbestos defendants over the head for years with their cigarette-smoking histories.

But wouldn't the McCain bill provide more money for asbestos victims? Not as the bill is written, Hoffman argues. Instead of making more money available to asbestos victims, he says, it simply replaces other funds. And if former asbestos companies or asbestos trusts don't have to shell out their own money, they will have less incentive settle cases that otherwise never would go to trial. If asbestos money is not at stake, what do asbestos defendants have to lose? Besides, asbestos plaintiffs don't always have the time or resources for a long fight. Hoffman also cites other flaws in the legislation, and he describes how the settlement proposal could be fixed in his analysis cited above. You also can order Asbestos Litigation: Eye of the Storm, a 1991 coursebook on the medical profession's ability to diagnose asbestos-related diseases. See Andrews Conference Course Books at http://www.andrewspub.com/cat413.htm.

Shepard Hoffman has been litigating asbestos cases for 16 years, and he's a recognized expert on the subject. In early June he chaired an asbestos litigation seminar in Vail, Colo. About 300 lawyers from 100 law firms attended. Hoffman came to asbestos litigation through his legal work for organized labor. Workers he represented often were the victims of asbestos diseases, including lung cancer and mesothelioma. Hoffman grew up in Massachusetts. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and from Boston University Law School in 1978. Contact him at:

Law Offices of Shepard A. Hoffman
301 N. Charles Street
Suite 901
Baltimore, Md. 21201
Telephone (410) 539-8404
Fax (410) 539-8407
E-mail: sheplaw@aol.com