Complication On Asbestos
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LEAD: The fragile alliance forged last week by 10 Federal judges trying to coordinate and resolve quickly tens of thousands of asbestos personal injury disputes will complicate settlement talks in many large cases, making their immediate resolution much more difficult, lawyers and judges said yesterday. The fragile alliance forged last week by 10 Federal judges trying to coordinate and resolve quickly tens of thousands of asbestos personal injury disputes will complicate settlement talks in many large cases, making their immediate resolution much more difficult, lawyers and judges said yesterday. On Friday, 10 judges with the heaviest dockets of asbestos cases approved an unusual order after meeting privately in Washington to coordinate many of the cases before three judges. Under the plan, two nationwide class actions will be consolidated and supervised by Federal District Judges Thomas D. Lambros of Cleveland and Robert M. Parker of Tyler, Tex. A third national class action will be under the jurisdiction of Federal District Judge Jack B. Weinstein of Brooklyn. Judge Weinstein will hold a hearing this morning in Brooklyn that is expected to address several of the questions left by the vaguely worded order, including its impact on settlement talks that he hopes could resolve more than 500 cases arising out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. But until the national coordination is actually put into effect and withstands anticipated legal challenges, settlement talks in these and other jurisdictions are being thrown into question. ”The order is going to complicate settlements all over the United States in the short run,” said Kenneth R. Feinberg, a Washington lawyer who has been appointed by judges in the Brooklyn Navy Yard cases and in Baltimore to try to settle more than 9,500 cases. ”Every single defendant must now reassess its position in light of the order.” Mr. Feinberg told two judges in New York last week that he was confident he would be able to settle at least 265 of the more than 500 cases filed by former workers and their families over injuries purportedly caused by the use of asbestos more than 25 years ago at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Those cases are scheduled to be tried en masse in early September in an unusual trial that will be heard jointly by Judge Weinstein and New York State Supreme Court Justice Helen E. Freedman. More : query.nytimes.com |