Tax ruling may present asbestos fund risks

Netherlands - A recent tax ruling against industrial building materials company James Hardie may pose problems for the company’s asbestos victim compensation fund. As reported by the AAP, attorneys for asbestos victims have expressed concerns that the loss of an appeal against an Australian Taxation Office assessment, which asserts James Hardie may have to pay a $357.36 million tax debt, may present risks for payments from the fund.

Compensation lawyers Maurice Blackburn principal Andrew Dimsey is quoted in the report as stating of the issue, “The ongoing uncertainty about James Hardie's financial position raise concerns for the future victims of asbestos-related disease.”

Dimsey is further quoted as stating, “The long-term security of funding for asbestos-related claims is dependent on the recovery of the US housing market, which is unfair to the blameless victims of James Hardies' misconduct….It is important that there are sufficient funds available to people for decades to come.”

"More than half of the people who will die from these horrendous lung diseases are yet to be diagnosed due to the delay between exposure and the onset of the disease."

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