RS21815 -- Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2004 (S. 2290, 108th Congress)
Updated January 21, 2005

	Payment of Asbestos Injury Claims

"Any individual [or, if he is deceased, his personal representative] who has suffered from a[n eligible] disease or condition . If,however, a claimant had filed a timely claim that was pending infederal or state court on the date of enactment of the bill, such claim would have to be dismissed, and the statuteof limitations to file a claim under the bill would be four years from thedate of enactment of the bill (� 113(b)(2)). A claimant, in other words, could receiveall these amounts in addition to his award from the Asbestos InjuryClaims Resolution Fund. Defendant participants would apparently be companies that have beensued for injuries caused by exposure to asbestos, and insurer participants would be the insurers of suchcompanies. S. 2290 would establish the Asbestos Insurers Commission, which would be composed of fivemembers, appointed for the life of the Commission, by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate (�211). "Insurers that have paid, or been assessed by a legal judgment or settlement, at least $1,000,000 in defense and indemnity costs before the date of enactment of this act in response toclaims for compensation for asbestos injuries . (8)
Judicial review.
This report provides an overview of S. 2290, 108th Congress, theFairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2004 (or FAIRAct of 2004), as introduced by Senator Hatch on April 7, 2004 and placed on the Senate legislative calendar. S.2290 was a revised version of S. 1125, 108thCongress, as reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (S.Rept. 108-188). (1) A cloture vote failed on April 22, 2004, and S. 2290 was never votedon.
S. 2290 would have created the Office of Asbestos Disease Compensation, within the Department of Labor,to award damages to asbestos claimants on a no-fault basis. Damages would have been paid by the Asbestos Injury Claims Resolution Fund, which would have been fundedby companies that have previously been sued for asbestos-relatedinjuries, and by insurers of such companies. Asbestos claims could no longer have been filed or pursued under statelaw, except for the enforcement of judgments no longer subject toany appeal or judicial review before the date of enactment of the bill.
For background information on the history of asbestos litigation and on other proposals to address the situation,see CRS Report RL32286, Asbestos Litigation: Prospects for LegislativeResolution, by Edward Rappaport.