Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 17, 1990                   TAG: 9007170379
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

JUDGE ORDERS ASBESTOS LAWSUITS BE COMBINED

The ruling Monday by Thomas Lambros, chief judge of U.S. District Court in Cleveland, comes amid mounting problems with a trust set up by Manville Corp. to compensate victims of asbestos-related diseases such as lung cancer.

Lambros said he issued the order because thousands of victims nationwide could go uncompensated as companies that made asbestos products were or could become unable to pay millions of dollars in asbestos liability.

Plaintiffs' lawyers said they expected the order to be challenged in a federal appeals court. "Each victim doesn't get their day in court," said Perry Weitz, a New York lawyer handling hundreds of cases.

-Associated Press