U.S. Judge Given Broad Power in Asbestos Case : Product liability: With 130,000 claims pending against Manville and more expected, the federal courts try to get things moving.

A federal judge highly critical of the Manville trust fund was granted broad powers Friday that could ensure his ability to overhaul the system for paying asbestos victims.

In an order by the chief judge of federal courts in southern New York State, U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein got the power to rule on any bankruptcy court appeal involving Manville Corp.’s 1988 reorganization or the trust.

The future of the $3-billion trust, created as part of Manville’s court reorganization, has been up in the air since it disclosed it had run out of money to pay 130,000 pending claims and any new ones. Asbestos lawsuits represent the largest product liability litigation in U.S. history.

“It’s essential to get some case management going in these problems,” Chief Judge Charles L. Brieant said in a telephone interview from his office in suburban White Plains. “These cases have been pending a long time.”

Brieant said that the bankruptcy case remained before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton R. Lifland but that Weinstein now was supervising, with power to transfer any appeal to his own courtroom.