Inhalation of asbestos can cause a number of serious conditions, including asbestosis, mesothelioma, and other cancers. In the early 1980s, the RAND Institute for Civil Justice conducted the first study to examine the costs of and compensation paid for asbestos personal injury claims. RAND has since amassed a significant body of research on asbestos litigation and on the performance of the U.S. legal system in resolving asbestos claims.
PROJECT
The RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ) conducts research on all aspects of civil justice, from trends in litigation and jury verdicts to punitive damages, compensation systems, and alternative dispute resolution. Directly or indirectly, civil justice issues have an impact on us all.
REPORT
Asbestos bankruptcy trusts—created to compensate people injured by the mineral—may be influencing tort cases. The current way that the trusts and the tort cases are linked together may result in payments that are not consistent with the basic principles of the tort liability system.
RESEARCH BRIEF
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.
NEWS RELEASE
Asbestos bankruptcy trusts—created to compensate people injured by the mineral—may be influencing tort cases. The current way that the trusts and the tort cases are linked together may result in payments that are not consistent with the basic principles of the tort liability system.
REPORT
While legislative and judicial reforms have made it increasingly difficult to obtain compensation for nonmalignant diseases in the tort system, the trust system remains a source of compensation for such injuries. This report describes the creation, organization, and operation of asbestos personal-injury trusts and compiles publicly available information on the assets, outlays, and governing boards of the 26 largest ones.
RESEARCH BRIEF
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.
REPORT
Silica inhalation injury claims skyrocketed beginning in 2001, prompting concerns that silicia litigation would become a mass tort. It instead collapsed following the uncovering of abusive diagnostic practices, which can be decreased or even prevented if changes in several areas of litigation procedures are pursued.
RESEARCH BRIEF
This research brief describes work documented in Asbestos Litigation (MG-162-ICJ).
PROJECT
Who exactly should be compensated for asbestos exposure? It's an ongoing and contentious debate. RAND Institute for Civil Justice offers a growing body of research on class action lawsuits related to asbestos.
REPORT
Claims for asbestos injuries have risen sharply since the 1990s and total more than 730,000 through 2002. At least 8,400 defendants have paid more than $70 billion on the litigation, 42 percent of which has gone to claimants.
REPORT
The number of asbestos claims filed annually, the number and types of firms named as defendants in asbestos litigation, and the costs of the litigation to those defendants have all risen sharply in recent years. Given these trends, the authors examine the dimensions of asbestos litigation: How many claims have been filed? By whom? Against whom? For what kinds of conditions? At what cost and with what economic effects? And, if current…
REPORT
This briefing documents the first phase of a new study on asbestos litigation, now the longest-running mass tort litigation in U.S. history.
REPORT
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.
PEOPLE
Senior Economist
Ph.D. in economics, Johns Hopkins University; M.S. in economics, Illinois Institute of Technology; B.S. in economics, Illinois Institute of Technology
PEOPLE
Senior Economist
Ph.D. in economics, University of California, Berkeley; B.A. in political science, B.S. in general engineering, Stanford University
PEOPLE
Associate Social Scientist
Ph.D. in political science, Binghamton University; J.D., Harvard University; M.A. in political science, Binghamton University; B.A. in political science, Wittenberg University
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