Madison County was once listed as a “judicial hellhole”. Nice huh. That is usually a result of a business group naming it as a bad place to be sued. Why, because verdicts are often high. Another reason why places get these kind of names is because they might be an easy place to file a lawsuit. Now that is often a strategy used in class actions. I personally think it is less useful when you are dealing with an individual case. When you have an individual case the individual has to establish a connection with the county forum. Sometimes that can be down by proving that some exposure occurred there.
One of the steps to preparing an asbestos case whether it be a mesothelioma case, lung cancer, or asbestos is to find out where the person was exposed to the asbestos OR where the company is that created the asbestos. Once you establish this link, then you get an idea where to file the lawsuit.
OK so there has been an increase in asbestos cases in Madison county: Does that mean anything?
BY JENNIFER K. HASAMEAR
News-DemocratEDWARDSVILLE –
While the number of the class-action lawsuits filed in Madison County has declined dramatically in the past five years, asbestos cases have increased by more than 100 since 2006.The number of class actions filed in 2007 stood at seven last week, which was up from the three filed in 2006. But in 2003, 106 class-action lawsuits were filed in Madison County.
In 2007, 444 asbestos cases were filed, an increase of more than a third from the 325 filed the previous year.
There are a few things going on here. It may be that there will be an increase in asbestos lawsuits and that may be simply because the population of people exposed to asbestos is also getting older. And some are only now old enough to have the cancer develop. It also simply could be an anomaly because it does seem as well that the numbers of asbestos cases across the country have gone down. Time will tell.
“As to asbestos, if you look back to 2001-2003, there were approximately 800-900 asbestos cases filed per year,” Callis said. “In 2006 and 2007, it is close to half of those previous years, so I believe the trend is still decreased filings in asbestos.”
Link to Full article: http://www.bnd.com/homepage/story/210526.html
