Crowell & Moring recently published a set of predictions for 2103 on a range of areas of litigations. The publication is online and free.
The predictions of course touch on tort litigation. There, they foresee a lessening focus on "classic" tort claims. They see ahead "nascent but likely" claims involving disruption of the endocrine system. This is not really news – I pointed it out back soon after taking up blogging in earnest in 2009. The general topic of endocrine disruptors jumped to public prominence with the 1997 publication of "Our Stolen Future," which has an ongoing companion web site. The science is especially interesting because the timing of a dose is clearly critical – for example, in utero exposures may or may not produce harm depending on the extent of fetus formation at the moment of exposure.
Crowell also mentions more possible asbestos litigation. Specifically, they foresee possible additional attacks on talc for including "asbestiform" materials. They also foresee possible increases in international asbestos claiming, perhaps through global alliances among firms, and perhaps by finding ways to obtain US jurisdiction over non-US defendants. Imagine that idea – global tort (litigation).