Christopher Moore Stevens Quoted in Law360 Article on Proposed Federal Asbestos Transparency Legislation

Christopher M. Stevens, a Los Angeles-based Dykema litigator whose practice focuses on complex toxic tort and environmental litigation, was recently quoted in Law360. The article—“Federal Asbestos Trust Bill Takes Forum-Shopping Off Table”—addresses the proposed Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2013 (FACT Act) that requires asbestos trust fund administrators to publish the claims for compensation received from those who allege that they were exposed to products made by the company that formed the trust fund.

Stevens, who has appeared on multiple occasions before the Ohio General Assembly House and Senate Civil Justice Committees, most recently appeared in 2012 in support of Ohio’s Asbestos Transparency Act, signed into law in December, 2012 by Governor John Kasich.

Stevens notes that over the past five years, asbestos trust funds have grown to nearly $40 billion, as companies channel money into trust funds and leave the state trial system behind. Stevens adds that the lack of transparency between state court and trust fund compensation systems is a serious deficiency, subject to abuse, and is the reason lawmakers in Ohio, and now in Congress, are taking action. In the Law360 article, Stevens notes that the recent enactment of the Ohio law is a good start, but more is needed as Ohio’s new law is a “one-state solution” to a national problem.