Ohio’s Asbestos Reform Survives 1st Court Test

A ruling last week by Ohio’s Eighth District Court of Appeals temporarily allows the nation’s first statewide law creating objective medical criteria for asbestos litigation (HB 292) to take effect.

The court, pending further arguments, denied in its entirety an alternative writ seeking to block HB 292 from taking effect as it was scheduled to last week. The court also set a deadline for dispositive motions to be filed on or before Sept. 20 with any responses due by Oct. 12.

The bill, enacted last May, prohibits people who may have been exposed to asbestos but who are not yet sick from filing suits in Buckeye State courts.