Judges Rule that Medical Criteria Law Doesn't Affect Rights of Unimpaireds

CLEVELAND - Ohio's recently enacted law establishing minimum medical criteria for silica and asbestos cases does not affect any substantive rights of so-called unimpaired plaintiffs whose cases have not yet been set for trial, a panel of Ohio judges has ruled. In Re: Cuyahoga County Asbestos Cases, Special Docket No. 73958 (Ohio Comm. Pls., Cuyahoga Cty.).

In a decision issued Oct. 11, three judges overseeing the state's consolidated asbestos docket in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas held that the new law can be enforced with respect to unimpaireds because the plaintiffs, who have cases pending on the docket, but …