Asbestos Litigation
Understanding and quantifying asbestos litigation compensation and costs can help policymakers assess how best to resolve future claims for everyone involved.
Since the 1980s, the ICJ has published the most comprehensive research on asbestos litigation in the country. The research focuses on estimating the scale of the litigation, describing trends over time, and analyzing the factors underlying such trends. How many claims have been filed? By whom? Against whom? For what kinds of conditions? At what cost? How much of the money spent is going to injured parties? If current trends continue, how many people will bring asbestos claims in the future and at what cost to defendants?
This work identifies the dimensions of the litigation so that policymakers can assess whether the tort system or some other alternative is the best way to resolve asbestos claims in the future.
Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts and Tort Compensation — 2011
This book examines how state tort laws and court proceedings consider the compensation available from asbestos bankruptcy trusts and the evidence submitted in trust claim forms, and how the establishment of the trusts can affect compensation.
Bankruptcy Trusts, Asbestos Compensation, and the Courts — 2011
People with asbestos injuries are increasingly receiving compensation from trusts set up by bankrupt asbestos defendants. This brief documents how courts handling these cases consider trust payments when determining compensation.
Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts: An Overview of Trust Structure and Activity with Detailed Reports on the Largest Trusts — 2010
This report describes the creation, organization, governance, and operation of asbestos personal-injury trusts and compiles information on the assets, outlays, claim-approval criteria, and governing boards of the 26 largest trusts.
The Abuse of Medical Diagnostic Practices in Mass Litigation: The Case of Silica — 2009
This report reviews the court proceedings that led to the uncovering of abusive diagnostic practices in silica litigation, then identifies ways in which similar practices could be uncovered or prevented in the future.
Diagnostic Abuse in Silica Litigation — 2009
This brief analyzes the factors that led to the exposure of widespread abuse in the diagnoses in thousands of silica injury claims in Texas, then suggests ways to uncover such abuses in mass personal-injury litigation more easily in the future.
Asbestos Litigation — 2005
Presents the most comprehensive description to date of the longest-running mass tort litigation in U.S. history.
Asbestos Litigation Costs, Compensation, and Alternatives — 2005
This research brief describes work documented in Asbestos Litigation (MG-162-ICJ).
Fashioning a National Resolution of Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation: A Reply to Professor Brickman — 2004
Fashioning a National Resolution of Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation: A Reply to Professor Brickman
Asbestos Litigation Costs and Compensation: An Interim Report — 2002
Examines the dimensions of current asbestos litigation and the potential future effects of the litigation on the U.S. economy
Asbestos Litigation in the U.S.: A New Look at an Old Issue — 2001
This briefing documents the first phase of a new study on asbestos litigation, now the longest-running mass tort litigation in U.S. history.
Asbestos Litigation in the United States: A Brief Overview — 1992
Summarizes the scope of asbestos litigation in the United States, the response of the civil justice system to date, and the obstacles to efficient and equitable resolution of asbestos-related personal injury claims.
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