JEFFERSON CITY – Although a bill introduced in January that would have permitted asbestos victims to secure some benefits from asbestos trust claims without sacrificing a future tort disbursement was filibustered for 20 hours, the senator who introduced Senate Bill 575 views the experience as a success.
“The bill made it to the Senate floor, which is the farthest it has ever advanced,” said Sen. Bill Eigel (R-Weldon Spring).
Eigel said he plans to file the bill again next year in January.
The proposed legislation would establish a process for claimants in a civil action seeking damages for asbestos exposure to disclose what claims had been filed with a trust.
“Tort actions take more time than the life span of the people who have these illnesses,” Eigel told the St. Louis Record. “We want the trust applications to be done upfront but we won’t punish people with empty awards from trust claims even if the formula award would be more but is unavailable.”
Critics say that the bill allows for stalling tactics to slow down the litigation process, which could lead to the death of victims sick from asbestos exposure before receiving an award of damages, according to media reports.
But reports of delayed claims just aren’t true, according to Eigel, who accepted several amendments once SB 575 arrived on the Senate floor.
“We accepted language that ensured victims would not be held for empty trust awards,” he said. “We accepted an amendment that would prohibit the use of asbestos in the state of Missouri but it wasn’t enough to overcome the filibuster of our colleagues, which was led by Sen. Gina Walsh.”
Walsh is a Missouri Democrat who also serves as interim senate minority leader. She faces term limits at the end of 2020.
“Tort bills like SB 575 are important because they have a significant impact from a legal perspective on our business communities,” Eigel said. “We want to preserve the individual’s Seventh Amendment right to a fair and impartial jury and we also want to ensure that corporations are treated fairly.”