Schuster Quoted in Legal Newsline Story Titled “Wisconsinites Can Look to Ohio for Effects of New Asbestos Transparency Law”

Richard Schuster, a partner in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the litigation group, was quoted throughout a Legal Newsline story regarding a new Wisconsin law, which requires plaintiffs to disclose claims they have filed or anticipate filing against asbestos bankruptcy trusts.  According to the story, the Wisconsin law is similar to an Ohio law signed into law in 2012.

The story states:

“While comparing how the state’s asbestos dockets will react to the new rules to Ohio’s experience with transparency laws will not produce identical outcomes, Ohio’s bill could provide some insight as to what can be expected in Wisconsin.

Initially, plaintiffs attorneys in Ohio opposed its transparency bill as well, challenging it on constitutional grounds but lost, defense attorney Richard Schuster of Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease LLP explained.

However, after it was passed, Schuster said the hype and wide-scale opposition faded and plaintiffs lawyers were able to comply with the requirements.

Schuster praised the result of Ohio’s version of the transparency bill, which was passed in 2012, saying it has been very successful from the defense perspective.

‘Ohio’s bill took a long time to get passed,’ he added, ‘and since its passage, it has really worked well.’

‘I think that the concerns that plaintiffs’ counsel expressed during the legislative process about making them impossible to practice, it turned out not to be true.’

The Ohio transparency bill has successfully minimized discovery disputes, allowing things to move more smoothly through the court system. Before the transparency laws were passed, the courts were spending time handling discovery disputes and provisions.”

To read the entire story, visit the Legal Newsline website.