Case to Determine Which Insurers Are Liable for Damages : Stage Set for Huge Asbestos Trial
With Superior Court Judge Ira A. Brown Jr. seated where a stage and orchestra pit once stood, and scores of attorneys gathered at a semicircle of long wooden tables, one of the biggest trials in the state’s history began Monday in a makeshift courtroom here.
The trial’s aim is to resolve which insurance companies are liable for hundreds of millions of dollars sought in more than 24,000 asbestos injury claims pending against five asbestos manufacturing companies.
Those five manufacturers--Manville Corp. of Denver; Fibreboard Corp., now a subsidiary of Louisiana Pacific Corp. of Portland, Ore.; GAF Corp. of Wayne, N.J.; Nicolet Inc. of Ambler, Pa., and Armstrong World Industries Inc. of Lancaster, Pa.--have sued more than 75 insurance companies, accusing them of illegally denying coverage for the asbestos claims.
The trial is being held in Nourse Auditorium, owned by the San Francisco Board of Education, because Judge Brown decided that the case involved more people than could be accommodated in any City Hall courtroom.
On Brown’s order, the 96 law firms involved have footed the bill for a $200,000 remodeling of the ornate auditorium to transform it into a functional courtroom. With its plush carpeting, cushioned swivel chairs and brass-plated desk lamps, the courtroom now looks like a comfortable hotel lobby. It will soon boast a computer system that will allow attorneys to record electronically their objections as well as storing a list of thousands of exhibits in a data base.
The initial phase of the trial will attempt to sort out the remaining conflicts between insurance companies and manufacturers as to what insurance policies were in effect as far back as 40 years ago or more and what those policies covered.
The key phase of the trial--deciding who is liable for the asbestos damage--is not expected to begin until this summer and involves complex legal questions relating to asbestos injuries.
One reason for the complexity of the damage claims is that asbestos injuries can take as many as 10 to 20 years to develop. Some insurance companies contend that the insurer whose policy was in effect at the time of the exposure to asbestos should be held responsible for the injury. Others say policies in effect when the injuries show themselves should be liable.
Both positions have been upheld in separate U.S. Circuit Court decisions. A ruling in this case might prove to be more conclusive.
Lawyers for the manufacturing companies will argue for an all-inclusive liability ruling, holding responsible all insurers who wrote policies from the time of exposure to the discovery of injury, according to Dennis Brown, representing Armstrong World Industries.
Outside the courtroom Monday, James Vermeulen, a 57-year-old former employee of Johns-Manville, now Manville, led a handful of demonstrators protesting the proceedings.
“It seems morally wrong that millions of dollars are being spent on attorneys’ fees while nothing is being spent on the victims,” he said.
Vermeulen was a production coordinator for Manville in Stockton from 1957 to 1966, making concrete asbestos pipes. Four years ago he was diagnosed as having asbestosis, a progressive and irreversible scarring of the lungs by asbestos fibers. The disease has been linked to pneumonia or heart disease and often is fatal. Asbestos also has been linked to lung cancer and cancer of the stomach lining.
When he discovered he had the disease, Vermeulen, who now needs a portable supply of oxygen strapped to his waist and connected to his nose by tubes as he walks, formed the group Asbestos Victims of America.
