Environmental journalists could soon find themselves spending more time watching their courtrooms and perhaps less tracking primarily legislative and/or regulatory matters.

Or, alternatively, seeing their courtroom reporters moving more and more into their beat.

Lead paint litigation and continuing litigation over asbestos exposures may become this decade’s follow-up to the tobacco litigation of the 90s, according to some analysts (also see related “Reading Rack” in this issue…too early to say whether “toxic mold,” p. X, also may make the grade???)

“State and local governments are taking aim at the companies that made the paint, suing manufacturers in a growing wave of cases that analysts say echoes the legal assault that ultimately held tobacco companies responsible for the health hazards of smoking,” The New York Times reported on September 21.

“In the last three years, the number of asbestos lawsuits has been increasing, forcing about 50 corporations into bankruptcy because of related liabilities,” Reuters followed-up in a piece the Times printed two days later. “Nationwide, about 200,000 asbestos claims are pending.”

In a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal published one day later, September 24, the chair of an industry group called the “Small Business Survival Committee,” in Washington, D.C., agreed with that newspaper’s editorial assessment a week earlier that asbestos litigation “puts many U.S. companies in peril.” Karen Kerrigan, the group’s chair, said the group believes that “85 percent of U.S. industries” now face the “plague” of asbestos lawsuits. “Already, more than 50 companies have filed for bankruptcy and estimates are that up to 3.1 million claims could be filed.”

Kerrigan named Honeywell (which had just the previous day reached an out-of-court settlement on claims in a seminal West Virginia lawsuit) as being “at serious financial risk,” along with companies such as Mobil, Owens-Corning, Ford “and other large employers.”

According to the industry representative, “small firms are increasingly at risk, as well.”

The Journal reported on September 24 that Honeywell International would not comment on terms of its settlement or on why it had chosen to settle rather than proceed with the Charleston, W.Va., litigation, which involves some 8,000 claims against 250 defendants, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Owens-Illinois Inc. Exxon Mobil has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay of the trial, but reportedly was planning to proceed with the litigation rather than settle. The company claims the litigation in West Virginia amounts to an unfair mass trial involving dissimilar issues. The Journal reported that many of the 250 industry defendants in the West Virginia case were expected to settle out of court.

Asbestos was used extensively in the U.S. for fireproofing and insulation prior to restrictions on its use based on findings that inhaling asbestos fibers was linked to cancer and other illnesses. The long gestation time involved in manifestations of asbestos-related diseases has led to a recent increase in the number of asbestos-related claims and court cases.

In the lead paint litigation, where The Providence Journal, in particular, has provided substantial coverage, litigation in Rhode Island is seen as a potential bellwether for other cities and states. Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, San Francisco, and St. Louis are among other jurisdictions with such lawsuits.

The New York Times article quoted lead industry analyst Tim Gerdeman, with Lehman Brothers brokerage firm, as saying “lead paint litigation has the potential to become the next major corporate plague, analogous to asbestos litigation in corporate America. It could become a major, major financial drain for my companies.”

According to the Times, the Rhode Island lawsuit seeks removal of lead paint from more than 330,000 housing units containing lead. State Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse has estimated costs of between $2,000 and $10,000 per house. Using that estimate, costs to be borne by paint companies for the Rhode Island remediation would range from $600 million to $3 billion. Costs for treatment of Rhode Island’s 35,000 children with high blood lead levels would up that ante, and state authorities say they are finding an average of seven new lead-poisoning cases across the state per day. Rhode Island’s housing stock has a higher percentage of homes with lead than many other states.