The Asbestos Numbers According to RAND

RAND released another phonebook of a report on asbestos litigation last week. If you can slog through the 200+ pages in the pre-publication version, here you go. Some highlights from RAND:

• only 42% of all the litigation costs go to plaintiffs
• about 730,000 cases have been filed up to 2002
• about 90% of new cases involve "non-cancerous injuries" which implies that a large percentage of cases are not valid.