Since the 20th century, asbestos legislation has become a very controversial subject of debate. As more and more individuals are showing up symptoms of mesothelioma, the billions of dollars in lawsuits against the companies keep rising as well. Companies are having to pay millions of dollars to compensate for their inhuman activities relating to asbestos exposure. As a result there has been a lot of discussion about asbestos legislations and its implications on the victim's right to sue the guilty corporations who were responsible for their physical and mental devastation.

The government, the influential corporations as well as thousands of victims and social rights activists have had a lot to do in their efforts to either establish the permanency of mesothelioma litigation or not. At the behest of these mammoth companies who rule the scene, the government has often in the past tried to initiate legislatory processes that can put a stop to mesothelioma litigation. Thus ever since the late 1900s, there have been many bills which have been passed either to boost mesothelioma litigation or to uphold the cause of these death dealing asbestos companies.

It was during the 1970s that the government first found out about the deadly effects of asbestos. In the 1980s there were bills passed to create funds of mesothelioma patients and needed contributions from the asbestos companies who had brought about this state of affairs in the first place. In the late years of the 1900s the Asbestos Workers Recovery Act and the Occupational Disease Compensation Act were introduced. This furthered the cause of the mesothelioma patients to demand for compensation. In 1999 The Fairness in Asbestos Compensation Act brought forward and this established a formal line of proceedings for asbestos litigation. Also a mesothelioma fund was to be created. However, things took a surprising turnaround in 2003 when The Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act was passed. This stipulated that mesothelioma settlements would not be financed using tax payers money but that there would be a privately maintained fund created by asbestos companies and insurers as well. This act has the potential to stop all forms of future mesothelioma litigation. Basically mesothelioma victims cannot sue the corporations for aid, but rather approach the fund for financial help. But the amounts of money received would be much lower than the settlements awarded in a lawsuit.