A Sea-Change in Asbestos Litigation?

Here is an interesting article from The National Law Journal on the current state of asbestos and silica litigation.

This article covers several recent changes in this litigation including the passing of the World War II shipyard generation, the increasing number of defendants declaring bankruptcy, recent rulings against mass diagnoses, the growing rise of "inactive dockets" and requiring stronger medical criteria.

As the article notes:

"Many in the asbestos bar see a return to the asbestos litigation style of the 1980s in the move away from the "wholesale" inventories of plaintiffs of the past decade to "retail" litigation, in which each claim is considered individually on its merits. "

The article also points out that due to the "wholesale" style of litigation "...an entire generation of asbestos lawyers never tried a case, they were just claims processors ..."