The following are my observations regarding the statistical issues:
1. Asbestos cases have imposed substantial clerical and judicial
demands on some federal courts.
- The asbestos caseload and its demands tend to be concentrated
disproportionately in several districts.
3. Judicial case weight studies could not have taken into account
the special demands of asbestos cases or other multiparty toxic tort
cases.
- Standardization and routinization may have reduced some of
the pretrial burdens on judges in asbestos litigation.
5. There are short-term procedures for assessment of problems
and interim alleviation of the major burdens on the clerk’s offices
imposed by asbestos litigation.
6. Further study is necessary to determine whether new case
weights are needed for determining allocations of judicial and clerical personnel.