Abstract
In the world of mass torts, asbestos and pollution are the best known and clearly the largest to date, with $29 billion and $30 billion (respectively) of incurred losses as of year-end 1998 for the U.S. insurance industry. Can another mass tort of comparable size arise in the future? The authors argue that, while it is possible, such a large loss is unlikely. This is due to factors that are likely to be unique to asbestos (long latency, signature diseases, and union involvement), changes in risk management habits of
U.S. corporations (larger SIRs and deductibles, more retro-rated policies, and changes in the U.S. legal system (greater use of class actions and ADR).
Volume
Fall
Page
35
Year
2000
Categories
Business Areas
Latent Exposures
Publications
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