P. M. BRIEFING : Victims Refuse to Drop Appeal of Ruling in Asbestos Case
The federal judge who ordered an overhaul of the cash-strapped Manville asbestos victims trust was unsuccessful today in persuading claimants to drop their challenges to his ruling.
U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein of Brooklyn last week ordered that proposals for the restructuring of the trust be made by Aug. 6 and he issued an injunction stopping the trust from making payments to victims until that date.
This week more than 1,000 claimants filed petitions with the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, challenging Weinstein’s jurisdiction in the matter.
Today Weinstein, who has been openly critical of the amount of fees being charged by plaintiffs’ lawyers, held a hearing at which time he tried to persuade the claimants to drop their appeals.
He said they should have come to him first and he could have made allowances for hardship cases, as he has already done in two other instances.
But plaintiffs’ lawyers refused to drop the appeals.
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