W.R. Grace and Co. has announced that it will fund a trust for resolving all current and future asbestos-related personal-injury claims. The company entered bankruptcy 7 years ago with 135,000 asbestos claims pending.

Workers' compensation insurance companies have a long history of guarding themselves from liability from asbestos exposure issues. Recently the NJ courts have ruled that workers' compensation insurance companies are shielded from liability when the insurance company performs hygiene studies and does not take action to protect the employees that it has insured under the policy.

NJ JURY AWARD $30.3 MILLION - MESO TRIAL - FEB. 2008
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- A jury has reached what is believed to be the highest
asbestos verdict ever in New Jersey, awarding $30.3 million to the surviving
family members of a former automotive worker.

Federal-Mogul Corp., auto parts manufacturer, won court approval of a reorganization plan that resolves potentionally $9.4 billion of dollars in asbestos claims that forced the company into bankruptcy six years ago.

Asbestos, a know cancer causing agent, has been found in toys still being sold in the US. The CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit and two brands of children's play clay along with many household products still in stores for sale have been reported by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO).

Dana Corp. won approval of the US Bankruptcy Court for the potential resolution of 150,000 asbestos claims against the auto parts manufacturer. The settlement will be paid from insurance proceeds.

The US EPA (Environmental; Protection Agency) has published an announcement to seek appointments to its Scientific Advisory Panel with asbestos experts in short course. In a notice published in the Federal Register on October 26, 2007 the US EPA announced a deadline of November 16, 2007.

The British House of Lords in a recent decision has take a step backward in time and has ruled that those who suffer pleural plaques (scarring of the lungs) as a result of asbestos exposure are unable to claim compensation. Parliament declared, " If the pleural plaques are not in themselves damage, do they become damage when aggregated with the risk which they evidence or the anxiety which that risk causes? In principle, neither the risk of future injury nor anxiety at the prospect of future injury is actionable. "

NYC CONNECTS AN EXPOSURE TO 911
For the First Time, the City Connects a Death to 9/11 Dust 
New York City’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, has for the first time directly linked a death to exposure to dust from the destruction of the World Trade Center. 

Bankruptcy Court Approves Owens Corning’s Plan of Reorganization. Toledo, Ohio – September 26, 2006 – Owens Corning (OWENQ.OB) today announced
that Judge Judith Fitzgerald of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of
Delaware approved the company’s Plan of Reorganization. The Bankruptcy Court’s
approval of the plan paves the way for Owens Corning to emerge from bankruptcy by
the end of October 2006.

 NJ GOVERNOR CLOSES WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURTS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO STATE BUDGETARY CRISIS Governor Jon S. Corzine today signed an Exec...

NJ WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS DECLINE
The NJ DWC reported a 5% decline in the filing of claims in 2005 (37,248) from 2004 (39,212). The statistic also represents a 31% decline from 1992 (54,164). This is consistent with the 25% decline in the number of indemnity claims paid in NJ from from 1992 to 2002 as reported by NJ CRIB. NJ Medical costs have soared 108% during the same period of time while indemnity has risen only 48%..

 CMS RASIES THRESHOLD to $25,000 FOR REVIEW CMS' April 25, 2006 Memorandum regarding WCMSAs and Revision of the Low Dollar Threshold for Medicar...

 CALIFORNIA Three proposals would revise the governor's overhaul of coverage for those hurt on the job. Three ballot proposals that could cost ...

TAINTED TISSUE AND BONES USED IN TRANSPLANTS 

 The Congressional Budget Office again indicted that the proposed asbestos reform trust fund would be inadequate. In a letter to Senator Spector it commented as follows: "The proposed trust fund might or might not have adequate resources to pay all valid claims. There is a significant likelihood that the fund’s revenues would fall short of the amount needed to pay valid claims, debt service, and administrative costs. There is also some elihood that the fund’s revenues would be sufficient to meet those needs. The final outcome cannot be predicted with great certainty.

Statement of Jon L. Gelman Attorney at Law Before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on the Fairness in Asbestos Resolution Act of 2005 January 11, 2005

 The International Labour Conference (ILO) in Geneva reported that cancer was the cause of 32% of the world wide job related deaths in the world.

FRAGRANCE AND FLAVOR INDUSTRY HIT WITH $15 MILLION VERDICT Jury Awards $15 Million in Making of Popcorn -This self regulated industry becomes prime target.
A jury on Friday awarded a former popcorn-plant worker $15 million after finding that his exposure to butter-flavoring fumes led to his severe respiratory problems.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is now considering proposed Federal legislation that will have significant impact upon Workers' Compensation systems throughout the United States. Since the enactment of workers' compensation legislation decades ago, asbestos and other latent disease claims continue to be an enormous challenge to compensation programs.