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Asbestos Litigation

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Report
Bankruptcy's Effect on Product Identification in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases
One of the most significant developments in asbestos litigation in the past 15 years is the rising rate of bankruptcy among asbestos defendants. Bankruptcy reduces the likelihood that exposures to the firm's asbestos-containing products will be identified in interrogatories and depositions.
May 21, 2015
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RAND Institute for Civil Justice
The RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ), a part of the Justice Policy program, 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.
Oct 3, 2011

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Blog
RAND Turns 75: A Look Through the Decades At World-Changing Research
From anticipating the Space Age in the 1940s to studying gun policy and COVID-19 responses in the 2020s, RAND is celebrating 75 years of research that has made a difference.
May 8, 2023
Journal Article
Response to Inselbuch and Sackett's Critique of RAND Reports on Asbestos Trusts and Asbestos Litigation
RAND responds to a piece published in Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy Report that was critical of three RAND studies on asbestos litigation and bankruptcy trusts.
Mar 9, 2016
Research Brief
Bankruptcy Trusts Complicate the Outcomes of Asbestos Lawsuits
Interrogatories and depositions in a tort case against a bankrupt firm are less likely to reveal exposure to asbestos in the firm's product than if the case had occurred before the firm filed bankruptcy.
May 21, 2015
News Release
Links Between Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts, Tort Cases Examined
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.
Aug 18, 2011
Report
Links Between Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts, Tort Cases Examined
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.
Aug 18, 2011
Research Brief
Bankruptcy Trusts, Asbestos Compensation, and the Courts
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.
Aug 18, 2011
Report
Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts: An Overview of Trust Structure and Activity with Detailed Reports on the Largest Trusts
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.
Jul 26, 2010
Research Brief
Diagnostic Abuse in Silica Litigation
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.
Dec 4, 2009
Report
The Abuse of Medical Diagnostic Practices in Mass Litigation: The Case of Silica
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.
Nov 13, 2009
Research Brief
Asbestos Litigation Costs, Compensation, and Alternatives
This research brief describes work documented in Asbestos Litigation (MG-162-ICJ).
Nov 25, 2005
News Release
RAND Study Finds More Than 730,000 People Have Filed Asbestos Injury Claims in U.S., Costing Defendants More Than $70 ...
RAND Study Finds More Than 730,000 People Have Filed Asbestos Injury Claims in U.S., Costing Defendants More Than $70 Billion
May 10, 2005
Report
Asbestos-Related Claims Exceed 730,000, Cost More than $70 Billion
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.
May 9, 2005
Report
Fashioning a National Resolution of Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation: A Reply to Professor Brickman
In this paper, reprinted from Cardozo Law Review, the author responds to Professor Brickman's analysis of the asbestos litigation problem, as well as to his proposal for a national administrative solution to the problem.
Dec 31, 2003
Report
Asbestos Litigation Costs and Compensation: An Interim Report
Examines the dimensions of current asbestos litigation and the potential future effects of the litigation on the U.S. economy
Dec 31, 2001
Report
Asbestos Litigation in the U.S. A New Look at an Old Issue
This briefing documents the first phase of a new study on asbestos litigation, now the longest-running mass tort litigation in U.S. history.
Dec 31, 2000
Report
Asbestos Litigation in the United States: A Brief Overview
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.
Dec 31, 1991
Report
The Debate over Jury Performance: Observations From A Recent Asbestos Case
This case study describes an interview conducted with the jury that decided an asbestos products liability case in Texas in 1984.
Dec 31, 1986
Report
Asbestos in the Courts: The Challenge of Mass Toxic Torts
This report presents the results of a study of how the civil justice system has dealt with the challenges presented by asbestos litigation.
Dec 31, 1984

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Geoffrey McGovern

Director of Intellectual Property

Geoffrey McGovern is director of Intellectual Property and a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. His research has focused on matters of civil justice, statutory compliance, asbestos litigation, national defense, and homeland security. Past RAND research includes a series of…
Lloyd Dixon

Director, RAND Kenneth R. Feinberg Center for Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation

Lloyd Dixon is director of the Kenneth R. Feinberg Center for Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation and a senior economist at the RAND Corporation. He has expertise on insurance, compensation, and liability issues. For California's Fourth Climate Change Assessment, he investigated the…

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