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(Article from Insurance Law Alert, June 2015)

For more information, please visit the Insurance Law Alert Resource Center.

On June 16, Texas passed legislation requiring claimants in asbestos or silica personal injury lawsuits to provide notice of a trust claim.  H.B. 1492.  More specifically, the new law requires a claimant to identify all pending trust claims and to disclose trust claim material, including documentation filed with any asbestos trust.  Under the statute, a defendant can seek sanctions for non-compliance.  The statute also gives courts discretion to stay asbestos trials until a claimant gives notice of all trust claims, and/or to modify a judgment based on, among other things, the filing of a trust claim following trial.  H.B. 1492.  The law, which takes effect on September 1, 2015, is designed to foster transparency and fairness in asbestos injury lawsuits and to restrict claimants’ ability to “double-dip” by receiving compensation via trust claims and litigation judgments/settlements.