Are Plaintiffs Lawyers Making Fraudulent Asbestos Claims?
People showing no signs of asbestos-related injuries are filing claims and walking away with money from the Manville Trust — set up by the John Mansville Corp. in 1982 to administer compensation claims of those suffering from asbestos-related medical impairments. Those familiar with the claim process charge that plaintiffs’ attorneys are milking the trust — to the disadvantage of those who are truly sick, often with cancer, by reducing payments to them. • Critics say chest x-rays — required to be consistent with asbestos exposure — are often questionable and that the trust created a payment system that made it too easy for perhaps hundreds of thousands of people to claim injuries and receive money. • Since the trust was launched in 1988, it has paid out $2.7 billion in claims and has about $2 billion in remaining assets. • The trust’s general counsel says the organization received over 58,000 claims last year — twice as many as in the year-earlier period — which jumped again this
