(a) The West Virginia Legislature finds that:
(1) Asbestos-related claims threaten the continued viability of uniquely situated companies that have never manufactured, sold or distributed asbestos or asbestos products and are liable only as successor corporations.
(2) The viability of these businesses is threatened due solely to their status as successor corporations by merger or consolidation based on actions taken prior to the May 13, 1968, American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists change in the recommended, longstanding threshold workplace-exposure limit for asbestos.
(3) More than twenty other states have enacted legislation similar to this article to provide limits on asbestos-related liabilities for innocent successors.
(4) The public interest as a whole is best served by providing relief to innocent successors so that they may remain viable.
(b) The purpose of this article is to limit the cumulative recovery by all asbestos claimants from innocent successors.