Last month, I attended the Perrin National Asbestos Litigation Conference in Charleston, S.C. KCIC participated in the opening panel, with my colleague Carrie Scott sharing asbestos filing statistics from our most recent Asbestos Litigation Report and data so far this year.

Over time, changing trends in the litigation have led to new areas of focus for defendants involved in the litigation. As a result, there are also new areas of focus for the content at conferences like those put on by Perrin, as well as analyses and reports we publish at KCIC.

For example, as talc exposure continues to cause increasing concerns, we have seen talc-related claims being discussed at more industry conferences, and KCIC has broadened our analyses on the talc subset of our asbestos data. Through various testing and reconciliation efforts, we believe that we now have at least 90% of asbestos-related talc cases in our database. This includes mixed exposure cases (separate asbestos and talc exposure allegations on the same complaint), as well as allegations of exposure to asbestos-containing talc.

Carrie’s presentation included a general overview on talc litigation updates. Later in the day, there was also a separate talc litigation specific panel. This panel, in combination with follow up questions we received about Carrie’s presentation, brought up a few questions that caught my interest to investigate further:

• Talc filings are continuing to increase. What are the main drivers?
• The idea of alternative causation arises a lot with lung cancer cases. Are we seeing changes in lung cancer filings that include talc exposures?
• Talc cases have had more plaintiff verdicts compared to traditional asbestos cases. Some factors that contribute to the verdicts are age and the type of exposure (mixed, industrial, cosmetic etc.)
  • How many talc filings include cosmetic talc exposure?
  • What does the age profile look like for talc defendants?

Before diving into these questions, I want to provide an update on how talc filings are looking so far this year. The data in this analysis includes public information from complaints received by KCIC through Sept. 30, 2024.

Overall Talc Trends

Figure 1 below shows talc filings by year, with 2024 filings projected based on the average percent of filings each year received by Sept. 30. In 2019-2023, we had received around 68% of the year’s talc filings by that date. This year, there were 504 talc filings as of Sept. 30, projecting a total of 744 filings once the year is complete (a 22% increase from 609 filings in 2023). This is in line with the increases we have seen in talc filings in 2022 and 2023.

Figure 2 shows talc filings as a percentage of total asbestos filings. Since in 2023, this percentage increased from 12% to 16%, and 2024 is projected to increase to 18%.

Main Drivers of Talc Filing Increase: Jurisdictions & Plaintiff Firms

Figure 3 below shows talc filings by plaintiff firm received through Sept. 30 each year for the top 10 plaintiff firms (based on 2024 filings). So far this year, 83% of talc filings came from these top 10 firms. We compared filings received through Sept. 30, 2024, with filings received through Sept. 30, 2023, for a point-in-time comparison. Nine of these firms have increased talc filings compared to this time last year (Simon Greenstone is the only firm to stay consistent compared to 2023). The Gori Law Firm increased its talc filings by 37% and Maune Raichle by 29%. Weitz and Luxenberg more than doubled its talc filings, while Meirowitz & Wasserberg increased talc filings by 75%. Bailey Cowan and SWMW also have multiplied filings compared to 2023.

We also looked at where these talc lawsuits are being filed. In Figure 4 below, we show talc filings through Sept. 30 each year for the top 10 jurisdictions (based on 2024 filings). Los Angeles is the only jurisdiction with a decrease in filings compared to this time last year. The other top five jurisdictions—Madison County, New York, Middlesex, and Alameda—have had increases between 29% and 53%. Filings in St. Clair County, a top jurisdiction for lung cancer filings, more than tripled so far this year.

Are We Seeing a Change in the Number of Lung Cancer Filings Alleging Talc Exposure?
Unlike mesothelioma, which is widely accepted to be linked only to asbestos, there are many different exposures and other factors that are known to cause lung cancer – such as smoking and exposure to various air pollutants. Therefore, the concept of alternative causation comes into play when determining causation and liability for lung cancer plaintiffs alleging talc exposure.

While this has not deterred lung cancer filings in (non-talc) asbestos litigation, it may be a reason why talc litigation is still mostly made up of mesothelioma claims. We have seen that lung cancer filings are on the rise in overall asbestos litigation, but this trend has not been present in the talc litigation. Figure 5 shows the disease breakdown for talc filings each year, and for 2024 as of Sept. 30. In 2019 and 2020, lung cancer cases made up 34% and 24% of talc filings, respectively. These lung cancer filings in 2019-2020 were mostly filed by the Gori Law Firm in St. Clair County. Since 2021, the percentage of lung cancer cases has decreased drastically to around 4%-5%. More than half of lung cancer talc filings this year have been in St. Clair and were filed by The Gori Law Firm, SWMW Law, and Bailey Cowan Heckaman. While The Gori Law Firm has drastically decreased its talc-related lung cancer filings since 2019 and 2020, a few more firms have started to file these cases.

How Many of these Asbestos-Related Talc Cases Allege Cosmetic Talc Exposure?

As talc filings have increased over recent years, the type of talc exposures being alleged, and the types of talc defendants being named, have changed. At the onset, we saw mostly industrial talc exposures and mostly talc manufacturers as defendants. As talc litigation got more publicity, with large verdicts against companies like J&J making national headlines, the filings have increased and include more cosmetic talc exposures and related defendants.

One question KCIC gets repeatedly is: How many talc cases involve cosmetic exposure as opposed to only industrial exposure? To answer this question, we looked at complaints naming some of the top-known defendants strictly for cosmetic talc liability.

Figure 6 below shows the percentage of talc cases each year (2024 is as of Sept. 30) that name zero of the top 20 cosmetic defendants — versus one cosmetic defendant, two-four defendants, and five or more defendants. In 2019, only 45% of complaints named more than two cosmetic defendants, but in 2022-2024 that has increased to around 60%. Starting in 2021, the percentage of complaints naming five or more cosmetic defendants more than doubled from 10% in 2020 to 24% in 2021. Since 2022, about a third of all talc complaints named five or more cosmetic defendants.

What is the Age Profile of Talc Plaintiffs?

A plaintiff’s age can often affect resolution values in this litigation, with younger plaintiffs generally receiving larger settlement or verdict amounts. Therefore, we wanted to provide some insight into the age distribution of talc plaintiffs and how it compares to non-talc plaintiffs in this litigation.

For this analysis, only claimants with birth dates available on the complaint are included (for 2021-2024 YTD this includes 38% of talc claimants). The average age of talc plaintiffs so far in 2024 is 71, compared to an average age of 76 for asbestos cases without a talc allegation. Figure 7 below plots the age distribution for talc cases compared to asbestos cases without a talc allegation for complaints filed in 2021-2023. We see a higher percentage of total plaintiffs in the younger age groups (below 65 years old) for talc plaintiffs than for non-talc plaintiffs (32% vs. 11%). While the peak age group is 75-79 for both talc and non-talc claimants, a lower percentage of talc claimants are in this age group (19% vs. 24%).

Conclusion

There are a few conclusions we can draw from recent talc filings:

• Talc filings have steadily increased for three consecutive years, with a projected 22% rise in 2024 compared to 2023.
  • One key factor behind this growth is that nine of the top 10 plaintiff firms and jurisdictions for talc filings have already surpassed their filing numbers from the same period last year.
• While lung cancer cases have become a larger percentage of non-talc asbestos filings, talc filings are comprised of very few lung cancer cases.
• The percentage of overall talc cases that name five or more cosmetic talc defendants has increased and is currently around a third of all talc complaints.
• Talc plaintiffs tend to be younger than those in traditional asbestos cases, potentially leading to greater liability.

KCIC will present asbestos filing statistics, including talc trends, at the DRI Asbestos Medicine Seminar on November 6 and the Perrin New York Asbestos Litigation Conference on December 11. Also, stay tuned for our 2024 (full year) annual Asbestos Litigation Report next April, where we will provide additional updates on the talc litigation.

*Usage of and/ or reliance upon the data in this report is prohibited without written permission from KCIC. The contents of this blog may not be duplicated or distributed without written permission from KCIC.