Category: Legislative Updates

On April 14, 2017, North Dakota became the third state this year to enact legislation mandating disclosure of asbestos bankruptcy trust claims. The new legislation requires plaintiffs to provide, within thirty days after an asbestos action is filed, a sworn statement from both plaintiff and counsel stating that all asbestos trust claims have been made. Plaintiffs must also provide parties with all trust claim materials, which are admissible in evidence. Supplementation is required, and failure to comply may result in dismissal of the case by …

On June 2, 2016, a bipartisan bill known as the Personal Injury Trust Fund Transparency Act was introduced to the Assembly Judiciary Committee of New Jersey. Per its synopsis, the act’s main purposes are to require plaintiffs to file personal injury trust claims under certain circumstances, address allocations of trust claims, and establish scheduling and discovery requirements for certain tort actions.

The bill, sponsored by assemblywoman Holly Schepisi and assemblyman Gordon M. Johnson, arose out of its sponsors’ beliefs that there is currently a lack …

On January 8, 2016, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill titled the “Fairness in Class Action Litigation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2016” in an effort to tighten standards for class certification in lawsuits and require asbestos bankruptcy trusts to publicize claimants’ details.

Essentially, this bill requires that any party seeking to assert a class action affirmatively demonstrate that each proposed class member suffered the same type and scope of injury as the named class representative(s).  Additionally, the bill requires …

On June 30, 2015, Rep. Warren Kampf introduced a bill in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives titled as the “Fairness in Claims and Transparency (FaCT) Act.”

The purposes are listed as providing transparency of claims made against bankruptcy trusts and in the tort system, to facilitate fair and appropriate compensation to plaintiffs while rationally allocating responsibility, to preserve the resources of defendants involved to help promote adequate recoveries for deserving plaintiffs, and to ensure that liabilities properly borne by bankruptcy trusts are not imposed upon …