Civil Litigation Process, President Participates In Asbestos Litigation

THE PRESIDENT:  Thanks for coming today. Please be seated. We've got a lot of work to do here. (Laughter.) Thank you for such a warm greeting, and I want to thank some of our fellow citizens for joining me here on the stage. We're about to have an interesting conversation on a vital issue that confronts our country, and that has to do with asbestos litigation. And I want to thank you all for joining us.

Well, first of all, we spend about $80 billion on asbestos litigation, and that could end up being $200 billion over time. Secondly, these asbestos suits have bankrupted a lot of companies, and that affects the workers here in Michigan and around the country. Thirdly, those with no major medal {sic} impairment now make up the vast majority of claims, while those who are truly sick are denied their day in court. We'll hear a little bit about that -- we'll hear more about that a little bit later.

It's a -- most of the asbestos producers are now bankrupt so that lawyers target companies once considered too small to sue, or once considered to be not really directly involved with the manufacturing of asbestos. Because there's nobody else to sue, they try to drag in people that aren't directly involved with the manufacturing of asbestos. We'll hear about what that means here, as well.

This is a national problem, as the Supreme Court said, that requires a national solution. And we're here today to talk about the national problem. I look forward to working with Congress to create a national solution. There are some principles which I think ought to govern Congress' actions. First, funds should be concentrated on those who are sick, not lawyers or claimants who are not ill. In other words, people have been affected by asbestos, there's no doubt about it. You'll hear a story here today about a loved one whose family suffered as a result of that. But most of the money isn't going to those people who have been truly sick. It's going to people who think they might be sick. And that hurts the system.

Secondly, we need to speed up the process for delivering justice to deserving victims. So as Congress considers what ought to be done, they need to keep in mind those who have been truly harmed by asbestos.

Third, we need to provide certainty in the system, which will help save jobs and protect businesses that had nothing to do with creating the asbestos problem. And that's important. And so, as Congress moves -- and I'm confident we can get something done. We'll, of course, need your help. I intend to help by keeping this issue on the front burner. And we've got some citizens up here who want to help today, too. And we're going to start by hearing from Lester Brickman. Lester, tell them what you do.