Mesothelioma

But the rate of According to a 2005 study by the nonpartisan Rand Corp., more than 730,000 claims of health injury due to asbestos have been filed.

Even the lawyer-friendly American Bar Association has expressed concern, noting in a recent memo that the claims have “created an enormous backlog in court dockets that delays awards for severely impaired victims of asbestos exposure.”The reason for the litigation explosion?

Critics blame unscrupulous lawyers who search for any connection to asbestos and then go “forum shopping” for jurisdictions noted for huge payouts.

Mississippi is a favored forum for tort lawyers.

In one Mississippi asbestos case, a jury awarded $25 million each to six former railroad workers, even though none showed any signs of asbestos-related illness.Class-action lawyers operate on “contingency fees.” If they lose, they get little or nothing.

If they win, they win big, usually pocketing about 30 percent of the money collected.In the Kentucky case now under federal investigation, lawyers were entitled to about 33 percent — $65 million — of the settlement with American Home Products over allegations that the company’s diet drug, phen-fen, caused heart damage.

Instead, according to The New York Times report, lawyers pocketed about $126 million...