Messrs. Cohn, Shelley and Arnold are back with a valuable new article: The Need for Further Transparency Between the Tort System and Section 524(g) Asbestos trusts, 2014 Update – Judicial and Legislative Developments and Other Changes in the Landscape Since 2008, Widener Law Journal (2014). The paper is a valuable follow up to their prior paper, The Need for Transparency Between the Tort System and Section 524(g) Asbestos Trusts, 17 J. Bankr. L. & Prac. 257 (Issue No. 2, April 2008).
For anyone working in or interested in the area, the new paper provides a valuable summary of trial and appellate court rulings in which courts have ordered disclosure of claim forms submitted to asbestos trusts. The new paper also goes into some further detail about which of the rulings rejected which of some of the specious arguments offered by some (not all) plaintiff’s firms to try to justify failure to disclose the claim forms. For example, some plaintiff’s firms offer the specious argument that claim forms are confidential settlement offers, but most courts have rejected that notion. And, of course, the new paper also covers the Garlock opinion, as well as legislative developments.
Overall, the new paper provides an excellent summary of the progress of the continuing journey to connect the tort system to the trust claiming system. Together, the two papers provide an even broader picture of the journey, and the various twists and turns along the way towards integrating the two disparate systems.
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