U.S. Chamber Urges Attorney General Holder to Investigate and Prosecute Widespread...

U.S. Chamber Urges Attorney General Holder to Investigate and Prosecute
Widespread Fraud in Asbestos Litigation

Highlights Evidence of Fraud and 'Lies Upon Lies' by Plaintiff's Lawyers

WASHINGTON, April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
today released a letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder highlighting
widespread evidence of asbestos litigation fraud and the necessity of
immediate and serious intervention.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080919/USCHAMBERLOGO)

In the letter, Chamber President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue said, "wrongdoers
continue to escape prosecution and are not being held accountable for conduct
that has inflicted unwarranted economic damage to companies and their
employees, undermined the integrity of our civil justice system and deprived
the truly sick of compensation for their injuries. It is unfathomable to the
business community that federal prosecutors could ignore this conduct,
especially when it is revealed repeatedly and openly around the country."

To protect the integrity of the U.S. civil justice system, Donohue called on
the Department of Justice to "prioritize and complete its investigations of
asbestos litigation fraud" that appear to have "been allowed to languish
without criminal prosecutions against those responsible for committing perhaps
the largest systematic litigation fraud in this country's history."

The letter also cited evidence of longstanding, pervasive corruption on the
part of plaintiffs' attorneys in asbestos litigation, including:

-- A March 2009 West Virginia state court case, which revealed
"disturbing allegations that asbestos plaintiffs' lawyers
enabled and tacitly encouraged their client to forge asbestos
diagnoses
by providing him with a cash advance and preprinted diagnosis forms
without a signature" as well as falsifying names, addresses and
phone numbers;
-- A February 2009 civil RICO lawsuit in Mississippi "alleging massive
racketeering activities against doctors and plaintiffs' lawyers for
manufacturing asbestos claims;"
-- An Ohio state court judge who, in 2007, barred one of the country's
top asbestos plaintiffs' firms from his court, stating the firm
told "lies upon lies upon lies" in an asbestos case there;
-- A Michigan state court judge who disqualified the findings of an
asbestos doctor who had diagnosed more than 7,000 asbestos plaintiffs.
In November 2007, the judge found the diagnoses "unreliable"
after the doctor failed the test that certified physicians to read
x-rays for lung disease and had submitted nearly identical reports for
all his diagnoses;
-- A January 2009 New York state ruling to revoke the medical license of
Dr. Ray Harron, who diagnosed more than 51,000 people with
asbestos-related diseases and thousands more with silica-related
diseases. Grounds for revocation included "negligent and fraudulent
practices" and "perpetrating a fraud on the courts." One
month later, a federal judge presiding over multi-district asbestos
litigation in Philadelphia also disqualified Dr. Harron as an expert
in
thousands of claims; and

-- An alarming increase in asbestos cases in Madison County, IL - long
considered the worst asbestos and mass tort jurisdictions in the
country. Cases there hit a low of 266 in 2006, but spiked to more than
600 cases filed in 2008.

Asbestos litigation fraud has negatively impacted the U.S. economy, having
caused 84 bankruptcies and costing 60,000 jobs, according to the Chamber. In
addition, the alleged widespread fraud in asbestos litigation has, in many
cases, Donohue said that it has "delayed justice and compensation for
thousands of men and women who were truly injured by asbestos containing
products."

The complete letter from Mr. Donohue to AG Holder can be viewed at:
http://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/images/pdf/agholder.pdf

ILR seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political,
judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels.
The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more
than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

SOURCE U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform

Bryan Quigley of U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, +1-202-463-5569