[S]ilica cases have turned the conventional wisdom of asbestos litigation on its head. Instead of settling early, paying money into a compensation fund and using bankruptcy filings to put the liability firmly into the past, companies facing silica suits fought back - and won a crucial victory that is already being copied by other lawyers fighting class-action lawsuits. By playing courtroom hardball, forcing lawyers for claimants to produce evidence that their clients had silicosis symptoms and deserved compensation, a small group of defense lawyers may have just changed the rules of so-called mass tort litigation.
This article from the New York Times is a must-read for corporate defense lawyers.