Mesothelioma settlement fund contributions agreedCancer (Mesothelioma, Asbestosis etc.)The beleagured Asbestos manufacturers have reached an Agreement on Asbestos Bill which will remove an obstacle to Senate action. At issue was how much each side would contribute to the fund. Under the terms of the agreement, the fund would pay $114 billion over 27 years, with insurers contributing 46 percent of the money and the manufacturers 54 percent, according to people close to the talks. The pact would also increase compensation to certain victims, offering more than the bill currently specifies. Although this agreement does not guarantee that the bill will become law it is, according to the deal broker Senator Bill Frist, "one fundamental aspect, which to me is the biggest stumbling block" The Hatch bill creates 10 categories of victims, offering them compensation that ranges from medical monitoring to a flat $1 million payment for people with mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer. Under the agreement, compensation would be increased in 6 of 10 of those categories. Participants said the deal also revised a provision, favored by trial lawyers, that would allow lawsuits to revert to the courts after 90 days if the fund could not meet its obligations in any given year. Trial lawyers who undertake class action mesothelioma and asbestosis litigation were dismissive saying that the deal, "means nothing other than that the companies and their insurers, who were responsible for millions of Americans being poisoned by asbestos, sat around in a room trying to come up with the smallest amount of money they could pay to get out of their liabilities"
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