At the same time many defendants are challenging the lawsuit itself before

At the same time, many defendants are challenging the lawsuit itself before the US Supreme Court.The trial, in which jury selection is due to start today at the Kanawha County Circuit Court, relates to thousands of people who claims their health suffered after being exposed to asbestos – a mineral that was widely used for fireproofing and insulation until the 1970s when its use was curtailed after scientists concluded that inhaled asbestos fibres could be linked to lung cancer.Some of the companies being sued were manufacturers of asbestos while others are building owners, whose premises used the substance.Defence lawyers claim that the number of plaintiffs and the variety of their experience makes a class action inappropriate. About half of the 259 defendants have appealed to the US Supreme Court to have the case thrown out on the grounds that their constitutional rights are being infringed.”The trial plan does not appear to be in the same universe as the due process clause in the Constitution,” said Walter Dellinger, a lawyer for the companies. “What gets lost in a mass trial with this number of defendants and this number of plaintiffs is that a lot of plaintiffs aren’t sick and a lot of the companies have nothing to do with asbestos.” The defence lawyers also complain that the state of West Virginia has been chosen as the venue for the trial because local laws give great latitude to outsiders who want to sue companies operating inside the state. As many as 5,000 of the plaintiffs are from out of state, lawyers claim.The defendants have staged a nationwide public relations campaign against the lawsuits. Led by former US Attorney General Griffin Bell, they claim that the people in the latest lawsuits are not even sick.But plaintiffs’ attorneys disagree, arguing that most of those seeking compensation worked in West Virginia, even if they are not natives.

“These are steel workers and construction workers who have worked in West Virginia. If they didn’t live here, they worked here,” said Charleston–based lawyer, Scott Segal.”These are thousands of people who spent the latter part of the 20th century making America what it is.” Last week, the plaintiffs scored an early victory when US Chief Justice, William Rehnquist, rejected requests for a delay in the start of the trial from defendants ExxonMobil, Honeywell and Owens–Illinois Inc. The companies wanted trial proceedings delayed until the Supreme Court could rule on their appeal. The court, currently in recess, is expected to consider the defendants’ appeal just before the start of its new term on October 7.Asbestos compensation remains a huge issue across the US, where there are perhaps 200,00 pending claims. Asbestos–related sicknesses can take up to 40 years materialise and in the last three years, the number of asbestos lawsuits have been increasing, forcing about 50 corporations into bankruptcy because of liabilities.There is also concern about the amount of money being made by the lawyers involved. Jim Humphreys, a Democratic candidate for House of Representatives, has already made millions of dollars on asbestos litigation, while Mr Segal is also a millionaire.. Enterprise Inns has been out on the lash when it comes to acquisitions.

It has been lining them up and knocking them back, and is now the UK’s biggest pub landlord, with 5,300 boozers in its estate. Certainly, his deals have racked up £1.6bn in debt, and that could prove a thumping headache since it dwarfs the company’s stock market value. Sober onlookers think the company will need a big rights issue if it wants to down the rest of Unique Pubs, the 4,200-strong estate sold by Nomura’s Guy Hands this year to a venture capital consortium which also includes Enterprise as a 17 per cent shareholder.So a rights issue will be looming for the next 18 months, and that can’t be great for the share price. But there are signs that the scale of any new equity issue may not be as huge as the market has been expecting. A financial update yesterday showed Unique has been able to pay back more of the venture capitalists’ investment than expected, and that means Enterprise won’t have to when it exercises its option to take control in 2004.Enterprise makes its money from rents and from taking a return on beer sales to its tenants. Rental income, solid and predictable, is only going to increase in the short term: the average Enterprise inn is 9 per cent more profitable now than it was a year ago.Many in the industry want tenants to be given more freedom to choose where to buy their beer, rather than being tied in to agreements to buy direct from landlords such as Enterprise.

That would jeopardise Enterprise’s second income stream, but competition authorities have examined the issue in the past and not found anything untoward.Because most of its debt is at fixed rates, even a rise in interest rates shouldn’t stall the group’s increase in interest cover, temporarily below the target 2.5 per cent.It would take an unfortunate coincidence of accidents to push Enterprise off course. The shares look cheap by most measures and are a hold.T&S profits from shift in consumer tastesT&S stores is one of the hidden gems of the retail sector. Low profile to the point of total invisibility it has nonetheless built itself a significant business in convenience stores. Indeed, it now boasts a store portfolio of more than 1,220 outlets including 867 One Stop convenience stores and 353 newsagents, which are now considered non-core.