SB 723

Current law establishes various requirements for a plaintiff claiming damages

in a personal injury action involving an exposure to asbestos and brought against one

or more defendants, at least one of which is an asbestos trust. Under current law,

if a verdict is entered in favor of the plaintiff in such an action and the defendant is

found to be 51 percent or more causally negligent or responsible for the plaintiff's

entire damages under Wisconsin's contributory negligence law, the plaintiff may not

collect any amount of damages until after the plaintiff assigns to the defendant all

pending, current, and future rights or claims he or she has or may have for a personal

injury claim against an asbestos trust. Current law also provides that, if a verdict

is entered in favor of the plaintiff in such an action and the defendant is found to be

less than 51 percent causally negligent or responsible for the plaintiff's entire

damages, the plaintiff may not collect any amount of damages until after the plaintiff

assigns to the defendant all future rights or claims he or she has or may have for a

personal injury claim against an asbestos trust.

This bill repeals these provisions concerning damages and the assignment of

claims and instead provides the following:

1) A defendant in a personal injury action involving asbestos exposure that is

not an asbestos trust and that is found to be causally negligent is jointly and severally

liable for the damages allowed.

2) A defendant described under item 1 may request a postjudgment hearing to

determine the total amount of payment received by the plaintiff, before the judgment

was entered against that defendant, from one or more asbestos trusts. Such a

defendant may receive a dollar-for-dollar credit for any such payment received by

the plaintiff.

3) A defendant described under item 1 may request a postjudgment hearing to

determine whether the plaintiff had any unpaid claims pending against one or more

asbestos trusts. If the court finds any such unpaid claims, the court may order the

plaintiff to assign to the defendant his or her unpaid claims only if the plaintiff will

be made whole by the judgment.

4) If a court orders an assignment under item 3, the plaintiff must work with

the defendant to obtain amounts due from each asbestos trust pursuant to the trust's

governance documents.

5) If the court orders an assignment under item 3, each claim the defendant files

pursuant to the assignment is to be treated as if the plaintiff submitted the claim.