The Michigan Supreme Court ordered judges around the state to handle asbestos-related lawsuits individually rather than bundle them together for collective settlement agreements, under a rule adopted Wednesday. The rule is intended to ensure that cases involving the sickest patients stricken with asbestos-related diseases receive special attention, the administrative order said. The court's seven justices split 4-3, however, as to whether the change was needed or will help those exposed to the cancer-causing substance. "This administrative order will, I believe, advance the interests of the most seriously ill asbestos plaintiffs whose interests have not always been well served by the present system, where available funds for compensation have been diminished or exhausted by payments for claims made by less seriously ill claimants," wrote Justice Stephen J.