Asbestos Liability Should Be On Domestic Reform Agenda.(A)(NATIONAL ISSUE)

Byline: DOUG BANDOW ** Doug Bandow

How to get the economy moving again is the dominant concern of most Americans. Tax cuts are a good place to start. Another necessary step is liability reform.

As President Bush noted in his State of the Union speech, "No one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit." The administration is targeting medical malpractice litigation, but the change must be more far-reaching.

If meritless lawsuits succeed and huge judgments are imposed on the innocent, we all pay. Product costs and insurance premiums are higher; goods and services are no longer available. Companies disappear.

So it is with asbestos.

Growing Litigation

Unfortunately, breathing asbestos, once widely used as insulation, …