Lawyers are gearing up for a constitutional challenge to a new state law that could remove nearly 3,000 asbestos cases from Fulton County dockets.
The law was designed to stem the tide of out-of-state asbestos claims being filed in Georgia, said its primary sponsor, Rep. David E. Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.
"We were seeing a huge number of people that were nonresidents of Georgia and that had not been exposed to asbestos or silica in Georgia who were suing in Georgia courts," said Ralston. . . .
[O]ne plaintiffs' attorney, David P. Bevon of Motley Rice in Mount Pleasant, S.C., said out-of-state plaintiffs filed in Georgia because the law here was more favorable than in other states for injuries that occurred years or even decades ago. He also noted that some defendants, such as Georgia-Pacific, are based here.
The new law, signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue on April 12 and codified at chapter 51-14 of the Georgia Code, prevents future suits from out-of-state plaintiffs. But because it applies retroactively, the constitutional fight is over the impact the law could have on cases that already have been filed.
The law added a host of new requirements for asbestos claims to survive in the state's courts. Among the new rules, a plaintiff must present "prima facie evidence of physical impairment" that shows "to a reasonable degree of certainty" that exposure to asbestos was "a substantial contributing factor" to the plaintiff's injuries. Plaintiffs' attorneys have until Oct. 19 -- or 180 days from the enactment of the bill -- to file affidavits establishing the prima facie evidence.
Apparently, those affadavits are proving hard to come by. Details here from the Fulton County Daily Report via Law.com.