Snapshot of Recent Trends in Asbestos Litigation: 2023 Update

12 July 2023
Mary Elizabeth C. Stern and Longxuan Wang

In NERA’s 15th annual review of the asbestos-related liabilities reported in companies’ 10-Ks, Managing Director Mary Elizabeth C. Stern and Consultant Longxuan Wang use publicly available data to analyze trends in asbestos-related liabilities spanning 2008–2022.

Highlights from this report include:

Average dollars per resolved claim increased for the fifth year, up 9% in 2022 compared to 2021, with a cumulative increase over the past five years of 145%.
Total payments increased 30%, the biggest increase over the past 10 years. While there has been year-to-year variability in spending, 2022 levels exceeded the top end of the historical range.
Dismissal rates were essentially flat, while resolutions increased 27%, reversing the decline observed in 2021.
Filings fell 7%, reversing the increase observed last year and dropping below 2020 levels.
Reserves declined slightly, while the number of divestiture transactions increased.

In addition to reviewing 10-Ks, the authors collected data from the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program on the incidence of mesothelioma diagnoses in the United States. These data are available through 2020. Mesothelioma incidence fell 12% in 2020, reversing the increase observed in 2019 and continuing the trend of declining incidence that began in 2016.

Please contact the authors if you would like NERA to analyze your asbestos data in conjunction with that of other public companies in a benchmarking study.