I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1737
To provide for the fair and efficient judicial consideration of personal injury 
and wrongful death claims arising out of asbestos exposure, to ensure 
that individuals who suffer harm, now or in the future, from illnesses 
caused by exposure to asbestos receive compensation for their injuries, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 10, 2003
Mr. DOOLEY of California (for himself, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. SMITH 
of Washington, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. 
LARSEN of Washington, and Mr. STENHOLM) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To provide for the fair and efficient judicial consideration 
of personal injury and wrongful death claims arising 
out of asbestos exposure, to ensure that individuals who 
suffer harm, now or in the future, from illnesses caused 
by exposure to asbestos receive compensation for their 
injuries, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Asbestos Victims’ Compensation Act of 2003’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. 
Sec. 3. Definitions. 
Sec. 4. Physical impairment. 
Sec. 5. Consolidation. 
Sec. 6. Venue. 
Sec. 7. Removal. 
Sec. 8. Limitations; two-disease rule; general releases. 
Sec. 9. Miscellaneous provisions. 
Sec. 10. Effective date.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) asbestos is a mineral that was widely used 
prior to the 1980s for insulation, fire-proofing, and 
other purposes; 
(2) millions of American workers and others 
were significantly exposed to asbestos, especially 
during and after the Second World War and prior 
to the advent of regulation by the Occupational 
Safety and Health Administration in the early 
1970s; 
(3) exposure to asbestos has been associated 
with various types of cancer, including mesothelioma 
and lung cancer, as well as such noncancerous condi-
tions as asbestosis, pleural plaques, and diffuse pleu-
ral thickening; 
(4) the diseases caused by asbestos have latency 
periods of up to 40 years or more;
(5) although the use of asbestos has dramati-
cally declined since 1980 and workplace exposures 
have been regulated since 1971 by the Occupational 
Safety and Health Administration, past exposures 
will continue to result in significant death and dis-
ability from mesothelioma and other cancers well 
into the 21st Century; 
(6) exposure to asbestos has led to the filing of 
at least 600,000 asbestos claims in State and Fed-
eral courts, with 50,000 to 100,000 new cases filed 
each year, and, if nothing is done to control the liti-
gation, as many as 2,000,000 additional claims may 
be filed before the litigation runs its course; 
(7) asbestos personal injury litigation can be 
unfair and inefficient, imposing a severe burden on 
courts, litigants and taxpayers alike; 
(8) asbestos personal injury litigation has al-
ready contributed to the bankruptcy of more than 
60 companies, including nearly all manufacturers of 
asbestos textile and insulation products, and the rate 
of asbestos-driven bankruptcies is accelerating; 
(9) the vast majority of asbestos claims are 
filed by individuals who have been exposed to asbes-
tos and who may have some physical sign of expo-
sure, but who suffer no present asbestos-related im-
pairment; 
(10) the cost of compensating exposed individ-
uals who are not sick—
(A) jeopardizes the ability of defendants to 
compensate people with cancer and other seri-
ous asbestos-related diseases, now and in the 
future; 
(B) threatens the savings, retirement bene-
fits, and jobs of these defendants’ current and 
retired employees; 
(C) adversely affects the communities in 
which these defendants operate; and 
(D) impairs the national economy and 
interstate commerce; 
(11) the several thousand asbestos-related can-
cer cases that are filed each year would be manage-
able by the courts and the litigants but for the vol-
ume of noncancer claims brought by those who suf-
fer no present asbestos-related impairment; 
(12) concerns about statutes of limitations can 
force claimants who have been exposed to asbestos 
but who have no current injury to bring premature 
lawsuits in order to protect against losing their
rights to future compensation should they become 
impaired; 
(13) consolidation, joinder, and similar proce-
dures, to which some courts have resorted to deal 
with the mass of asbestos cases, can undermine the 
appropriate functioning of the judicial process and 
encourage the filing of thousands of cases by ex-
posed individuals who are not yet sick and who may 
never become sick; 
(14) similarly, the availability of sympathetic 
forums in States with no connection to the plaintiff 
or to the exposures that form the basis of the law-
suit has encouraged the filing of thousands of cases 
on behalf of exposed individuals who are not yet sick 
and may never become sick; and 
(15) the United States Supreme Court has 
characterized asbestos cases as ‘‘an elephantine 
mass’’ that ‘‘defies customary judicial administration 
and 
calls 
for 
national 
legislation’’, 
Ortiz 
v. 
Fibreboard Corporation, 119 S. Ct. 2295, 2302 
(1999), and has reaffirmed its call for national legis-
lation in Norfolk & Western Railway. Co. v. Ayers, 
No. 01-963 (decided March 10, 2003). 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to give priority to those asbestos claimants 
who can demonstrate actual physical harm or illness 
caused by asbestos; 
(2) to fully preserve the rights of claimants who 
were exposed to asbestos to pursue compensation 
should they become sick in the future; 
(3) to enhance the ability of the State and Fed-
eral judicial systems to supervise and control asbes-
tos litigation and asbestos-related bankruptcy pro-
ceedings; and 
(4) to conserve the scarce resources of the de-
fendants, and marshal assets in bankruptcy, to allow 
compensation of cancer victims and others who are 
physically harmed by exposure to asbestos while se-
curing the right to similar compensation for those 
who may suffer cancer or other physical harm in the 
future. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) AMA GUIDES TO THE EVALUATION OF PER-
MANENT IMPAIRMENT.—The term ‘‘AMA Guides to 
the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment’’ means 
the American Medical Association’s Guides to the 
Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (Fifth Edition 
2000).
(2) ASBESTOS.—The term ‘‘asbestos’’ includes 
all minerals defined as ‘‘asbestos’’ in 29 C.F.R. 
1910 as amended from time to time. 
(3) ASBESTOS
CLAIM.—The term ‘‘asbestos 
claim’’ means any claim for damages or other relief 
presented in a civil action or bankruptcy proceeding, 
arising out of, based on, or related to the health ef-
fects of exposure to asbestos, including loss of con-
sortium, wrongful death, and any derivative claim 
made by or on behalf of any exposed person or any 
representative, spouse, parent, child or other relative 
of any exposed person. The term does not include 
claims for benefits under a workers’ compensation 
law or veterans’ benefits program, or claims brought 
by any person as a subrogee by virtue of the pay-
ment of benefits under a workers’ compensation law. 
(4) 
ASBESTOSIS.—The 
term 
‘‘asbestosis’’ 
means bilateral diffuse interstitial fibrosis of the 
lungs caused by inhalation of asbestos fibers. 
(5) CANCER CLAIM.—The term ‘‘cancer claim’’ 
means an asbestos claim that is based upon the ex-
posed person’s diagnosed cancer. 
(6) CERTIFIED
B-READER.—The term ‘‘cer-
tified B-reader’’ means an individual qualified as a
‘‘final’’ or ‘‘B-reader’’ under 42 C.F.R. 37.51(b) as 
amended from time to time. 
(7) CIVIL
ACTION.—The term ‘‘civil action’’ 
means all suits of a civil nature in State or Federal 
court, whether cognizable as cases at law or in eq-
uity or in admiralty, but does not include an action 
relating to any workers’ compensation law, or a pro-
ceeding for benefits under any veterans’ benefits 
program. 
(8) EXPOSED
PERSON.—The term ‘‘exposed 
person’’ means any person whose exposure to asbes-
tos or to asbestos-containing products is the basis 
for an asbestos claim. 
(9) FEV1.—The term ‘‘FEV1’’ means forced 
expiratory volume in the first second, which is the 
maximal volume of air that can be expired from a 
full inspiration in one second. 
(10) FVC.—The term ‘‘FVC’’ means forced 
vital capacity, which is the maximal volume of air 
expired with maximum effort from a position of full 
inspiration. 
(11) ILO SCALE.—The term ‘‘ILO Scale’’ 
means the system for the classification of chest x-
rays set forth in the International Labour Office’s 
Guidelines for the Use of ILO International Classi-
fication of Radiographs of Pneumoconioses (1980) 
as amended from time to time by the International 
Labour Office. 
(12) NONMALIGNANT CLAIM.—The term ‘‘non-
malignant claim’’ means an asbestos claim that is 
based upon a condition of the exposed person that 
is caused or may be caused by asbestos other than 
a diagnosed cancer. 
(13) PREDICTED LOWER LIMIT OF NORMAL.—
The term ‘‘predicted lower limit of normal’’ for any 
test means the fifth percentile of healthy populations 
based on age, height, and gender, based on an ap-
propriate reference population. 
(14) PULMONARY
FUNCTION
TESTING.—The 
term 
‘‘pulmonary 
function 
testing’’ 
means 
spirometry, lung volume tests, diffusing capacity 
tests, and arterial gas tests. 
(15) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mar-
iana Islands, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American 
Samoa, and any other territory or possession of the 
United States or any political subdivision of any of 
the foregoing.
(16) TLC.—The term ‘‘TLC’’ means total lung 
capacity, which is the volume of air in the lungs 
after 
maximal 
inspiration 
as 
measured 
by 
plethysmography or timed gas dilution. 
(17) VETERANS’ 
BENEFITS
PROGRAM.—The 
term ‘‘veterans’ benefits program’’ means any pro-
gram for benefits in connection with military service 
administered by the Veterans’ Administration under 
title 38, United States Code. 
(18) WORKERS’ 
COMPENSATION
LAW.—The 
term ‘‘workers’ compensation law’’ means a law re-
specting a program administered by a State or the 
United States to provide benefits, funded by a re-
sponsible employer or its insurance carrier, for occu-
pational diseases or injuries or for disability or death 
caused by occupational diseases or injuries. The 
term includes the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ 
Compensation Act (33 U.S.C. 901–944, 948–950), 
and chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code 
(known as the Federal Employees Compensation 
Act), but does not include the Act of April 22, 1908 
(45 U.S.C. 51 et seq.) (popularly referred to as the 
‘‘Federal Employers’ Liability Act’’).
SEC. 4. PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT. 
(a) IMPAIRMENT ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF CLAIM.—
Physical impairment of the exposed person, to which as-
bestos exposure was a substantial contributing factor, 
shall be an essential element of an asbestos claim. For 
purposes of this section, cancer shall satisfy the require-
ment for physical impairment. 
(b) MEDICAL REPORT AND DIAGNOSIS: FILING.—
The plaintiff in any civil action involving an asbestos claim 
shall file, together with the complaint or other initial 
pleading, a narrative medical report and diagnosis, signed 
by a diagnosing doctor, that meets the requirements of 
this section. In any civil action involving an asbestos claim 
that is pending on the effective date of this Act, the plain-
tiff shall file a narrative medical report and diagnosis 
within 60 days following such effective date but in no 
event later that 30 days prior to trial. The plaintiff’s claim 
shall be dismissed without prejudice if a medical report 
and diagnosis fail to substantially meet the requirements 
of this section or are not timely filed. 
(c) MEDICAL REPORT AND DIAGNOSIS: CONTENTS.—
The medical report and diagnosis filed under this section 
shall contain each of the following: 
(1) An employment and exposure history, which 
shall include all of the principal employments and 
exposures of the exposed person to airborne contami-
nants and shall state whether each such employment 
involved exposure to airborne contaminants (includ-
ing but not limited to asbestos) that can cause pul-
monary impairment, and the nature, duration, and 
level of any such exposure. The employment and ex-
posure history shall be obtained from the exposed 
person or, if that person is deceased or otherwise 
unable to provide the required information, from the 
person or persons most knowledgeable about the ex-
posed person’s employment or exposures. The diag-
nosing doctor shall certify that the employment and 
exposure history was taken by the diagnosing doctor, 
or a medical professional employed by and under the 
direct supervision and control of the diagnosing doc-
tor. 
(2) A detailed medical and smoking history, 
which shall include a thorough review of the exposed 
person’s past and present medical conditions and 
their most probable cause and full information re-
garding the exposed person’s history of smoking of 
tobacco products. The diagnosing doctor shall certify 
that the medical and smoking history was taken by 
the diagnosing doctor, or a medical professional em-
ployed by and under the direct supervision and con-
trol of the diagnosing doctor.
(3) Certification that, in the opinion of the di-
agnosing doctor, at least 15 years have elapsed be-
tween the exposed person’s first exposure to asbestos 
and the time of diagnosis. 
(4) Certification that—
(A) in the opinion of a certified B-reader, 
the exposed person’s chest x-ray shows either—
(i) bilateral small irregular opacities 
(s, t, or u) graded 1/0 or higher on the 
ILO scale; or 
(ii) bilateral diffuse pleural thickening 
graded b2 or higher on the ILO scale and 
including 
blunting 
of 
at 
least 
one 
costophrenic angle; or 
(B) in the opinion of a board-certified pa-
thologist, the exposed person has pathological 
evidence of asbestosis graded 1(B) or higher ac-
cording to criteria published in Asbestos-Associ-
ated Diseases, Special Issue of the Archives of 
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Volume 
106, Number 11, Appendix 3 (October 8, 
1982). 
(5)(A) Certification that the exposed person has 
asbestos-related pulmonary impairment as dem-
onstrated by pulmonary function testing that 
shows—
(i) FVC below the predicted lower limit of 
normal and FEV1/FVC (using actual values) at 
or above the predicted lower limit of normal; or 
(ii) TLC below the predicted lower limit of 
normal. 
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), where 
pulmonary function test results do not meet the re-
quirement of such subparagraph, a claimant may 
submit an additional report, by a board-certified 
pulmonologist, internist, or occupational physician, 
that states that the doctor providing the report has 
a doctor/patient relationship with the exposed per-
son, that the exposed person has a chest x-ray meet-
ing the requirements of this Act which in the opinion 
of a certified B-reader shows bilateral small irreg-
ular opacities (s, t, or u) graded 2/1 or higher on the 
ILO scale, and that the exposed person has restric-
tive impairment from asbestosis. The additional re-
port shall set forth in detail the specific pulmonary 
function test findings that the doctor relies upon to 
establish that the claimant has restrictive impair-
ment and shall include the reports and readouts
from all pulmonary function or other testing upon 
which the report is based. 
(6) A statement that the diagnosing doctor has 
concluded the exposed person’s respiratory impair-
ment is not more probably the result of causes other 
than exposure to asbestosis. 
(7) Copies of the B-reader’s report and the re-
sults of pulmonary function tests (including print-
outs of flow volume loops and all other elements nec-
essary to demonstrate compliance with the technical 
standards required by this section). 
(d) COMPLIANCE WITH TECHNICAL STANDARDS.—
The technical standards required by this section are as 
follows: 
(1) Chest x-rays shall be administered in ac-
cordance with all applicable State and Federal regu-
latory requirements and shall be quality 1 unless the 
exposed person is deceased and tissue is unavailable 
for pathological analysis, in which case the chest x-
ray may be quality 2. 
(2) Pulmonary function testing shall be per-
formed using equipment, methods of calibration, and 
technique that meet the criteria incorporated in the 
AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Im-
pairment and reported as set forth in 20 C.F.R.