ASBESTOS CASES ARE NOT OVERWHELMING OUR COURTS

ASBESTOS CASES ARE NOT OVERWHELMING OUR COURTS

According to the most recent national data from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), in 2005:

• Only .5 percent of all tort cases tried in state courts were asbestos cases.1
• Juries decided 83 asbestos claims.2
• Plaintiffs prevailed in 45 asbestos trials.3
• Plaintiffs succeeded in roughly half of jury-decided asbestos cases.4
• Asbestos plaintiff award winners constituted less than .6 percent of plaintiff award winners in all state tort trials.5
• The median damage award in asbestos cases was $682,000. However, it is important to note that DOJ award data do not take into account post-trial activity (such as award modifications) and appeals.6

Updated June 2010

NOTES

1 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Tort Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005,” NCJ 228129 (November 2009) at 2 (Table 1), found at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/tbjtsc05.pdf.

2 Ibid.

3 Id. at 4 (Table 4).

4 Ibid.

5 Id. at 5 (Table 5).

6 Ibid.