There's a new bill from Utah regulating asbestos bankruptcy trusts.
Remember those were set up by courts to compensate people injured by asbestos exposure.
The bill is HB328, "asbestos litigation amendments," in the Utah state legislature. At first read, it appears to codify into law the same rules most trusts have. A lot of their language pertaining to medical requirements and definitions are verbatim or close to verbatim with what the trusts require.
Big difference here is this bill won't let injured parties sue if they have lower asbestos damage unless they can show their lung functions are below normal. Not sure why they would do that, except to just arbitrarily reduce the amount of compensation that Utah plaintiffs can collect.
The trusts themselves set up the compensation parameters, and a few of these in the Utah bill are more limited.
I noticed the bill's sponsor, representative, Brady Brammer owns an industrial cleaning service, so if his employees had been exposed to asbestos on the job, he might face liability.
That seems to be a conflict.
Not sure why else Mr. Brammer is alarmed that sick people are getting some money to help cover their medical bills, but I guess everyone has their reasons.
The bill's discovery requirements for trust submissions is a standard thing that a lot of states require: if you put in an affidavit that you breathe JM products, the defense will use that to make an apportionment of fault arguments.
It wasn't just our asbestos, the guy breathed.
He also breathed JM asbestos.
That's why our firm AsbestosClaims.law has built the largest asbestos info database on the planet.
So we can leverage it in your claim filings to demonstrate all the ways you were exposed and ensure that you collect from all the responsible parties.
If you or your family members were exposed at your work or from dust carried on your work clothes into your vehicle and home, give us a call.
But first consult your trust and healthcare professional to discuss testing for asbestos damage, even if you're in Utah.
