Wisconsin legislators, at the behest for ALEC and the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council, are at it again. Over the course of the last two years, they have combined to completely decimate asbestos and mesothelioma victims’ legal rights. These victims are typically senior citizens who have served our country in the armed forces, especially the Navy, or who were construction laborers, plumbers, electricians, etc. Most of these victims are dying a horrible death suffocating from the asbestos they breathed in over the course of their service. These Wisconsin citizens and Veterans are dying and yet these Wisconsin legislators, primarily Republicans, like Andre Jacque of De Pere, are shilling for big businesses and insurance companies. Representative Jacque apparently doesn’t care that only 9 asbestos related lawsuits were even filed in Wisconsin in 2012. No, instead he seeks to make sure that any remaining Wisconsin victims of asbestos and mesothelioma will not get justice.
The law Jacque, ALEC, and the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council propose compels that asbestos victims bring all Asbestos Bankruptcy Trust claims first, before bringing a lawsuit against non-bankrupt asbestos companies, like Halliburton, Union Carbide, utilities, and others. The goal is to reduce asbestos victims’ recoveries and delay mesothelioma victims’ ability to get their day in court before the die. Jacque apparently does not want to hear the latter, but that’s the tragic result of the law he has proposed. Clearly, Jacque has never had a family member die from asbestos-related disease or mesothelioma.