KCIC has published its "Asbestos Litigation: 2017 Year in Review" report — the consulting firm's latest full-year look at the current state of asbestos litigation. For the first time, KCIC's data show a downward trend in the total number of asbestos lawsuit filings, as well as a decrease in filings for every major disease type.

However, there remains a high concentration of filings in the same few counties and cities in the U.S. Also, suits are still overwhelmingly filed by a small number of plaintiff firms that have a pattern of continually naming the same defendants. In 2017, at least one of the top 10 most-named defendants was named on 98% of received lawsuits. The most frequently named defendant was named on 87% of lawsuits.

Besides examining trends by jurisdiction, plaintiff firm and disease, as well as defendant naming trends, KCIC looked at secondary exposure/gender trends and emerging effects of Bankruptcy Trust Transparency legislation. 

The 2017 report reflects three years of data that KCIC received through Jan. 31, 2017. KCIC shared a preview of its findings during the opening panel of Perrin Conferences’ “Cutting Edge Issues in Asbestos Litigation” conference on March 8.

For media inquiries about the report, please contact Megan Shockley at shockleym@kcic.com.