May 26th, 2005

A recent study by the RAND Corporation has revealed that between the 1970s and 2002, over 730,000 people in the United States alone filed for asbestos related injury compensation, amounting to over seventy billion dollars in payouts from companies and insurance agencies.

The high level of asbestos litigation has resulted in many companies going bankrupt following claims from those injured through asbestos exposure, with some claimants receiving multi-million dollar payouts. The new bill put forward by government officials hopes to eliminate this issue by giving companies immunity from further litigation through a payment into a trust fund for asbestos compensation payouts.

The RAND report stated that for each dollar paid out, the claimant received forty-two percent. A further twenty-seven percent goes to attorney and court related costs, and the remaining thirty-one percent to defence costs.

Researchers noted that the rise in litigation had risen sharply from the 1990s onwards. The lead author of the study stated, “We found that the cost of asbestos claims continues to increase at a steady pace.”