Asbestos lawsuits are on the rise in Los Angeles, a Madison County judge told his local paper, The (Madison, Ill.) Record.
Judge Daniel Stack told the Record that asbestos lawsuits are rising anywhere there is an active docket, but "Los Angeles is a place that's really starting to take off."
Meanwhile, the window of opportunity for sweeping federal tort reform has effectively been shut, and plaintiffs' attorneys successfully weathered the political storm designed to reign in frivolous lawsuits, the article stated.
According to the Record, the coming years are likely to bring a series of battles for tort reform at the state level, pushing asbestos cases into courts that are more appealing to plaintiffs' attorneys. Illinois and California remain prime spots for new cases and new settlements.
"California's new gold rush is asbestos litigation," said Mark A. Behrens, a Washington, D.C. attorney with Shook, Hardy & Bacon.
Large plaintiffs firms from around the company are setting up shop in California, like Waters & Krause of Texas, and SimmonsCooper of Madison County. Proliferate television, Internet and radio advertisements expand the assets of plaintiffs' firms with scores of new clients. Behrens said judges have already acknowledged the increasing burden from a vibrant and growing asbestos docket.
Many of the plaintiffs coming to California lack and meaningful connection to the state, he said. "In a 2006 sample of 1,047 asbestos plaintiffs for whom address information was available, over 300 -- or an astonishing 30% -- had addresses outside California."