Nearly 7,000 asbestos-injury cases that had been pending in Baltimore Circuit Court for years will be settled under a confidential agreement signed yesterday, according to the court's administrative judge.
Yesterday's agreement between plaintiffs represented by Peter G. Angelos and lawyers for ACandS Inc. is part of a continuing effort by the court to reduce the number of pending asbestos-injury cases, which have been lingering for more than a decade, said Administrative Judge Ellen M. Heller.
"We have made significant headway," Heller said. "There are many more to go, but the court is going to continue its aggressive management."
Asked about the agreement, Donald S. Meringer, attorney for insulation contracting firm ACandS, said that his client "did not settle any cases" yesterday.
He refused to elaborate.
David L. Palmer, the attorney for Angelos' office, said in a prepared statement: "We are pleased that Judge Heller and Judge [Richard T.] Rombro exercised their judicial leadership in assisting the resolution of cases outside of the court system."
Palmer also refused to answer questions about the deal.
Unclogging the courts
Heller's attack on the clogged docket began in July, when clusters of 150 cases were scheduled to be heard every three weeks before five judges. She said that in addition to the 6,800 cases resolved yesterday, another 2,000 cases have been settled since July.
Thousands of cases have yet to be resolved.
Though the cases against ACandS will be removed from the docket, often plaintiffs in those cases sued other companies. Heller said the last major defendant is Porter-Hayden Co., and those cases will be scheduled for trial.
In addition, Heller said another 10,000 cases were placed on an "inactive" docket. That docket includes recent filings and instances in which plaintiffs found irregularities in medical exams but had not developed asbestos-related diseases.
Those cases do not have trial dates.
Asbestos case epicenter
Baltimore is a center of asbestos-injury cases because of the many shipyards and steel mills that once employed much of the region's population.
Seven national asbestos manufacturers or distributors were found negligent and liable for not warning workers about health problems related to asbestos exposure in a 1992 Baltimore civil trial.
But after that first liability trial, plaintiffs had to seek damages on their own by showing that they were exposed to asbestos and it caused them harm.
Flooded with cases, city judges decided several years ago to start hearing the most serious ones first. Those cases involve mesothelioma, a form of cancer directly linked to asbestos.
Until last summer, the other cases sat. Heller decided to take the oldest cases first - with some dating back to 1987.
