Snapshot of Recent Trends in Asbestos Litigation: 2018 Update

27 June 2018
Mary Elizabeth C. Stern and Lucy P. Allen

In NERA’s tenth annual review of asbestos-related litigation, Director Mary Elizabeth C. Stern and Managing Director Lucy P. Allen examine a dataset of more than 150 asbestos defendants, reporting on the latest trends and new findings.

2018 Highlights:

After increasing in 2016, average dollars per resolved claim pulled back in 2017 (falling 5%), although values remained higher, on average, than in 2015.
The number of claims resolved and average dismissal rates both declined for the second year in a row, dropping 29% and 14%, respectively, over the two-year period.
Total indemnity payments decreased slightly, falling 8%, but remained within the range observed historically.
Reserves, which had increased slightly over the prior two years, were flat in 2017.
New claim filings fell, on average, marking the third year of declines (for a cumulative decline of 19%), but the magnitude of the declines remained much smaller than those observed during the mid-2000s.