"Hello, everyone, this is Bobbie Barrister, the brightest star in the law firmament, the first heard with the last word in legal trends, and your host every week for ‘Love That Suit!’ Want to know what’s ‘in’? Don’t we all! So, go ahead and ask me then. It’s one word, darling: ‘lung cancer.’ Is that two words? Oh, my goodness, you’re right, but who’s counting? Anyway, it’s the latest thing in asbestos litigation, and you simply must try one. Lung cancer suits are hot! They’re the torts of today!”
Okay, there’s no such person as Bobbie Barrister hosting a TV show called “Love That Suit!” but it’s not much of a stretch.
There was an event in Beverly Hills, Calif., last month called the “Cutting-Edge Issues in Asbestos Litigation Conference” that highlighted the increasing number of lung-cancer suits as a trend to follow.
We wouldn’t blame you for being skeptical, especially now that you’re on your guard, but, this time, we’re not making it up.
Asbestos attorney Timothy Krippner of Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney in Chicago, who served as co-chairman of the conference, said the surge in lung cancer filings represents a major litigation trend for 2013.
What’s behind this “trend”? Are more people getting lung cancer after decades of being told how to avoid it, or have attorneys just come up with a new way to cash in on the asbestos action?
“I believe there are new firms trying to gain footholds in asbestos litigation,” Krippner said in a telephone interview, asserting that “the greatest force behind the increased filings in Madison County and elsewhere in the country, and the greatest threat to the viability of the resources needed for people with mesothelioma, are these lung cancer cases.”
Maybe it’s not such a good trend for attorneys like Krippner who focus on mesothelioma cases, but, then, Krippner was part of a trend once, too – and maybe that one wasn’t so good either.