A Trust Fund Victims Can't Trust
Stephen Rosenberg’s story
Indianapolis, Indiana. Steve worked as a start-up engineer in 1962 for Combustion Engineering in Texas. He would go to powerhouse boiler job sites when they were 95 percent complete, which is when the boilers were being insulated with asbestos materials. Later in his career he worked with Shell Oil and was exposed regularly to asbestos at refinery sites. He was never adequately warned about the dangers of asbestos.
In November 2002 Steve was diagnosed with mesothelioma. The life expectancy of a person diagnosed with this disease, caused only by asbestos, is nine to 12 months. Steve soon needed oxygen 24 hours a day, but he beat the odds for three years.
On October 29, 2005, Steve died, leaving his wife, two children, and several grandchildren behind.
Steve was a fighter. He wanted his voice to be heard by anyone who would listen about the dangers of asbestos. He wanted to ensure that Americans injured by asbestos could make their own decisions about whether to bring cases before juries — and not have that choice eliminated by Congress.
How would the asbestos bailout bill hurt Steve’s family?
If the proposed asbestos bill is enacted, cases like the one Steve was pursuing before his death would be wiped out and never heard in court, and injured individuals like Steve who have already spent months and sometimes years documenting their cases would have to start the claims process from the very beginning under the proposed asbestos trust fund.
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