WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - New filings claiming exposure to asbestos caused lung cancer sharply increased by more than 20 percent last year, according to an annual report by a business consultancy firm.
But the overall number of filings across the country has remained steady, largely due to the small increase in mesothelioma cases and a big drop in non-malignant claims.
Actions continue to be filed by many of the same law firms and concentrated in the same jurisdictions - including notably Madison County, Illinois - the report by Washington-based KCIC reveals.
In 2019, the total number of asbestos filings was 4,062, a decrease of two percent from 4,135 in 2018. However, KCIC notes that the number is estimated to increase by four percent as more information is gathered from across the country, leaving an overall rise of two percent.
Mesothelioma filings are the main goals of asbestos lawyers, as they are worth significantly more than other lung diseases. They saw a slight increase of 2%.
Lung cancer filings, though, increased more than 21% to 1,334 filings in 2019, according to the report. Non-malignant cases and lawsuits that didn't specify which disease decreased by 33% and 51%, respectively.
"Plaintiffs firms are going where they make the most money," said Mark Behrens, who co-chairs D.C.-based Shook Hardy Bacon's Public Policy Practice Group, told Legal Newsline, adding that the number of non-malignant cases has been trending downwards in recent years.
"It is a trend that we have seen, litigation moving in that way for quite some time."
Behrens noted that in Baltimore, new filings have dropped significantly, by 49 percent, largely driven by the fact that historically it has seen a large number of non-malignant cases, many of them stemming from the Angelos Law Firm, which filed 54 percent fewer cases in 2019.
Further, in Baltimore, the attorneys have to prove merit before a case moves forward and there are monthly status conferences during which those taking the action must show progress, Behrens said. It's all part of a process designed to eliminate a massive backlog of idling cases.
KCIC concludes, "Not much has changed in asbestos litigation over the past few years. Overall filing counts are stable with a high concentration of complaints being filed by the top plaintiff firms within the top jurisdictions against the same defendants."
The top jurisdictions for asbestos filings have changed little, with Madison County remaining on top with 28 percent of all filings in the country, 1,150 last year, and a 41 percent increase in lung cancer filings. Filings are concentrated in 15 of 149 jurisdictions, with 82 percent of all filings.
An increase in lung cancer filings by The Gori Law Firm, of Edwardsville, Illinois, contributed both to the increase in Madison County and nationwide. The Gori Law Firm filed 629 cases, up from 573 in 2018.
The other law firms in the top three are Simmons Hanley Conroy of Alton, Illinois, with 506, and Weitz and Luxenberg of New York with 424.