Last month, I had the distinct pleasure of speaking on the opening panel of the DRI Asbestos Medicine conference in Tampa, Florida. The panel focused on Litigation Trends and Verdict Analyses. I was joined by Jennifer Whelan from MG+M, Michael Drumke from Swanson Martin & Bell, Tim McGowan and Claire Weglarz from Womble Bond Dickinson. I started the panel summarizing the state of the current asbestos litigation. KCIC has been tracking asbestos lawsuits for over 10 years, so I was able to highlight some long-term trends. As shown in the figure below, over the last 10 years, asbestos filings have decreased from about 5,200 annual filings in 2015 to an estimated 4,200 filings in 2025. By year end 2025, however, the annual filings are expected to be back to filings we saw pre-COVID.
In addition to overall filing trends, the last decade has seen an increase in allegations of asbestos exposure to talc products. In 2015, less than 5% of the annual mesothelioma filings mentioned talc allegations in the complaint. In 2025, talc exposure is alleged in over 40% of all mesothelioma filings.
In asbestos trials, we are often seeing mesothelioma plaintiffs who allege exposure from talc. About 90% of all talc related trials in the last 5 years have been decided for the plaintiff, and we often see very big verdicts in these cases. In fact, this year there was a verdict in for a talc case in CA in which the plaintiff was awarded over $900 million!
The other members of the panel then dug into verdicts deeper and talked about trial strategies, such as anchoring, apportionment and focusing on plaintiff’s credibility. They each gave spirited examples and stories about what they have found works best in the courtroom to mitigate large verdicts and obtain a win for their client!
I would like to thank my panel and DRI for giving me the opportunity to speak at this year’s conference. I look forward to seeing everyone at next year’s conference on November 18th in Nashville, TN!
Having spent much of her career serving clients who are asbestos defendants, Michelle Potter is an authority on the current state of the asbestos litigation industry. At KCIC, her day-to-day role is to manage client relationships and lead projects to develop and implement claims processing procedures and systems, as well as to perform complex analyses of different types of claims and insurance.
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