In asbestos litigation, propensity to sue is driven in part by information, accurate or not. Therefore, it’s worth noting that the UK continues to have high levels of publicity about asbestos. #Asbestos

ACI has issued an agenda for its June 27 and 28 asbestos litigation conference in Chicago. Chairs include Jonathan Lively of Chicago’s Segal McCambridge. The agenda is dominated by science, with lung cancer claims receiving substantial attention. The agenda calls for sessions on the "each and every fiber" argument and on "Differential Diagnosis and Gene Studies: Using Science to Understand the Evolution of Mesothelioma Claims." The lung cancer session agenda is as follows: Lu

Legal Newsline includes an article by Heather Isringhausen Gvillo that is even more notable for its mention of juror questions that followed up on a Crane Co. witness providing the jury with a demonstration of a valve. Seeing perhaps was part of believing – the jury later returned a defense verdict. #Asbestos

The latest output from CMS on reimbursement for low dose CT scans is online. In essence, the output poses logical questions for consideration at the April 30, 2014 regulatory meeting. #Asbestos

Mt. Sinai in New York is offering an upcoming evening presentation on lung cancer screenings. #Asbestos

With the continuing surge in lung cancer claiming, more attention will focus on causation issues. A new paper in Carcinogenesis finds a statistical link between HPV and lung cancer in a subset of tumors. The study includes authors from Fox Chase and around the world, and reports on variations between ethnic subgroups. It’s unclear whether the HPV is causative. HPV, however, is clearly a cause of cervical cancer. The article abstract states: "Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the

As described by Laurie Kazan-Allen in a February 19 entry at IBAS, May 14, 2014 is the date for various European unions to meet regarding asbestos. A web site page states the following regarding the meeting: "The BWI is pleased to announce our international conference on asbestos to take place in Vienna on the 6th and 7th of May 2014. Asbestos is the biggest industrial killer of all time, but it is still not banned worldwide. It kills thousands of people every week – every fi

Does early detection matter for mesothelioma? Yes, along with genomic variants. Consider a popular press story and medical articles report on doubling life expectancies for persons with resectable epithelial mesothelioma by putting radiation before tumor removal surgery. The result is 84% of a small group of patients reaching three years of survival, and the number may go out further. B. C. John Cho, Ron Feld, Natasha Leighl, Isabelle Opitz, Masaki Anraku, Ming-Sound Tsao, Da

Even though many ignore the topic, there are groups focused on research on mesothelioma.  Thus, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation is based in Alexandria, Virginia and its focus is aptly described in its name. Mary Hesdorffer drives the group, and is an experienced medical professional who has catalyzed over $16 million in private and government funding. Research, Mary and the rest of the foundation deserve far more support than they they receive. Contrary to what c

Some smart lawyers I know said "for asbestos litigation, 2014 will be the year of the trial lawyer." Their observation was based on the ever-increasing number of trial starts and verdicts across the country. Some evidence supporting their observation seems to lie in a second Madison County asbestos trial starting in less than two months. Like the last trial, this one involves Jeff Hebrank, a long-time leader for the defense in Madison County. The plaintiff’s firm is Shrad

This week will include a webinar focused on whether the insurance industry is under reserved for asbestos litigation. The questions will include a focus on science, disease numbers and litigation claiming numbers. The webinar is offered by Assured Research, which recently issued a press release about a paper issued by Assured that laid out data, and posed various questions about insurer reserves for asbestos. Based on the many examples of insurers taking larger asbestos charg

The Madison County Record reports the trial date has been continued in the long-running Buckles asbestos malpractice case pending in Madison County. The case was filed in 2006, and already made one trip up to the Fifth District appellate court. See Buckles v. Hopkins Goldenberg, P.C., 967 N.E.2d 458 (Ill. App. Ct. 5th Dist. 2012), appeal denied, 2012 Ill. LEXIS 1137 (Ill., Sept. 26, 2012). The appellate opinion is one of the infrequent public mentions of the realities of "adm

On March 17 and 18, 2014, in Beverly Hills, Perrin Conferences will put on its annual conference on Cutting-Edge Issues in Asbestos Litigation. As in the past, the very knowledgeable chairs chairs will include two Chicagoans (John Cooney and Tim Krippner), and a Texan (Jeff Simon). I’m looking forward to attending for the substance, the people and weather warmer than that of Chicago. On science, the Friday morning March 18 sessions include the following two panels aimed at

Watch for a continued increase in low dose CT scans for lung cancers in persons with greater than usual risks. Use of low dose CT scans grew over the last few years, with mounting evidence to support efficacy and adoption by courts for medical monitoring remedies In NY, the Court of Appeals recently issued a terse opinion that narrowly declined to adopt a broad medical monitoring cause of action against big tobacco, but the opinion explicitly confirmed the medical monitoring

After in camera review, a Rhode Island judge rejected work product and confidentiality arguments asserted by Early Lucarelli et. al. in order to try to avoid producing claim forms submitted to asbestos trusts. The judge also held the forms discoverable for possible use for impeachment. It’s good to see yet another ruling rejecting these absurd arguments by plaintiff’s lawyers. Trust claim forms clearly are not work product or "confidential." Hat tip to LAW360 for publicizing

According to a February 5, 2014 post at IBAS news by Laurie Kazan-Allen, a French "workers compensation" agency has recognized ovarian cancer as asbestos-related. The outcome is said to arise in the case of a woman with who worked at a factory that produced boilers. This article (French) is cited as reporting the decision. The post also cites a February 3, 2014 press release from Andeva, an asbestos advocacy group in France. The press release states the following, as transla

Medical liens continue to grow in importance in terms of who ends up paying for what as to asbestos-related disease. In Scotland, an advocates group for victims reportedly is urging action to force employer’s to pay medical expenses. A key quote is: "More than £20 million is spent each year by the NHS in Scotland diagnosing and treating people from the effects of exposure to asbestos, including diseases like mesothelioma, according to pressure group Clydeside Action on Asbest

Researchers continue to increase the volume of quantitative data available taken from tissue to better understand past exposures in persons with disease. Asbestos lung fiber burden measurements provide one of many examples. In a new paper, a group of researchers in Japan provide data on lung burdens, and find decreasing fiber burdens in persons with mesothelioma. The article is free online in full text. The abstract provides the following overview: "Objectives: We aimed to el

New papers continue to arrive from the Lin and Wang group that analyzes data from an ongoing study of Chinese chrysotile mine workers in a mine that had little if any tremolite contamination. Due to its remote location, the authors suggest that the mine workers likely had few "other exposures," except for smoking. The latest paper includes analysis tied to estimated levels of exposure, as well as smoking status. The paper evaluates lung cancers, non-malignant respiratory dise

A new, free paper describes describes "the case of a woman who presented with acute onset of interscapular pain, haemodynamic instability and radiographic imaging suggestive of acute descending thoracic aortic rupture in which the diagnosis of advanced malignant mesothelioma was ultimately made." According to the authors, there were no known exposures to toxins in the history of this 82 year old woman. #Asbestos