11.   The company, he said, was financially prepared for any resolution of the asbestos cases.

12.   The judgment in February, the largest ever for a single plaintiff in an asbestos case, was awarded to Patricia Brown, the wife of Stephen Brown.

13.   The Philadelphia asbestos case, which was widely known under an earlier name, Georgine v. Amchem Products, followed this route.

14.   The trial lawyers group has lobbied heavily against the bill, which would limit the percentage of fees lawyers can collect in asbestos cases.

15.   Weinstein worked with Justice Freedman for several years on asbestos cases.

16.   The Supreme Court has urged Congress to take legislative action to deal with what it said was a serious backlog in asbestos cases.

17.   Thus the proposed diet-drug settlement avoids the problem of potential future claims that could not be accurately anticipated in the asbestos case, he said.