Mass Torts
Combining multi-disciplinary expertise with extensive claims analyses, The Brattle Group provides testimony and consulting services related to liabilities arising from mass tort litigation.
Our experts have a long history of supporting plaintiffs, defendants, and insurance companies in bankruptcy hearings, fraudulent conveyance litigations, coverage disputes, insurance commutations, corporate financial disclosures, and M&A due diligence. We perform claims analysis, forecast future claims, model litigation and claims resolution processes, and estimate aggregate claim liabilities. Brattle experts have a deep understanding of the many institutional, legal, and public policy issues that affect mass tort litigation. We can contribute multi-disciplinary expertise to cases, including economics, statistics, econometrics, epidemiology, and finance.
Brattle has extensive experience analyzing claims data and forecasting future mass tort claims. Claims forecasting often involves identifying exposed populations and applying epidemiological models to estimate the number of affected individuals. Our experts model the economic incentives of claiming and of attorneys to recruit claimants to estimate the number of claims filed in mass tort litigation. We account for the effects of advertising, screening practices, and expectations of settlement on the mix of claims as well as the choice to settle or litigate. We build, maintain, and analyze databases of historical claims to estimate the size of exposed populations and the value of future claims based on past resolutions, including settlements and verdicts. The effects of different claim attributes and the availability of various defenses are often analyzed using regression analysis where appropriate.
When supporting clients in insurance-related matters, our experts have worked on numerous coverage disputes and have computed the amount of insurance coverage available to pay for long-tailed losses. We have modeled complex insurance coverage programs to account for a number of legal and coverage-related issues – including deductibles, per occurrence and aggregate limits, exclusions, and insurance allocations under pro rata and all sums jurisdictions.
Brattle’s clients include claimants, defendant organizations or companies, and insurers with mass tort liability exposures. Our experts have testified in state and federal proceedings and provided consulting services in a wide range of mass tort matters. Our work has involved analyzing claims data and costs related to broad social issues, such as those involving opioids and abuse. We also have extensive experience with pharmaceutical and medical devices, consumer products such as talc, and forever chemicals, including PFAS.
Opioids
In opioid-related litigation, Brattle experts have developed national, state, and country-level estimates of the number of individuals that suffer from opioid use disorder and forecasted the scope of the opioid epidemic under various abatement programs. Brattle has estimated the direct and indirect financial cost of opioid abuse to state and local governments, including costs related to treating and preventing opioid use disorder, criminal justice, child welfare, and education. Our experts have also computed the epidemic’s economic impact on wages, productivity, and taxes, and have modeled comprehensive abatement programs to estimate both the cost of abatement and forecast the reduction in opioid use.
Drugs, Medical Devices, and Consumer Products
Brattle has forecasted and valued mass tort claims relating to exposures to various drugs, medical devices, and consumer products. We have developed estimates of exposed populations based on sales data and applied epidemiological models to forecast the future incidence of injury and disease. We have valued pools of claims alleging injuries from a wide variety of drugs and medical devices, including talc, breast implants, hernia mesh, IVC filters, Roundup, Zantac, and proton pump inhibitors.
Physical and Sexual Abuse
Brattle has analyzed claims against institutions accused of enabling physical and sexual abuse. Our consultants have valued claims accounting for the strength of the claims and potential defenses, including statutes of limitation; assessed the credibility of alleged claims; and evaluated the impact of possible insurance coverage defenses on claim values.
Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy
Dow Corning Breast Implants Bankruptcy Settlement
Federal-Mogul Asbestos Bankruptcy
Boy Scouts of America Bankruptcy
Engagements
On behalf of 49 US states and six US territories, Brattle analyzed the costs they incurred as a result of the opioid epidemic. Brattle experts computed the historical and future costs related to the epidemic in healthcare, criminal justice, child welfare, and education, as well as the tax revenues lost because of opioid addiction and abuse. This analysis was used by the states and territories to assert and ultimately settle their claims against the Purdue Pharma estate.
Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy
Brattle experts submitted expert declarations and provided testimony to the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on issues relating to claims analysis, estimation, and sampling on behalf of Century Indemnity Company. Our work helped lead to an $800 million settlement between Century, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), and the Tort Claimants Committee.
Boy Scouts of America Bankruptcy
Brattle experts conducted statistical analysis, and modelled claiming and opt out behavior to estimate the timing, amount, and uncertainty in the expected liabilities of the Settlement Trust. Our analysis was based on the exposed population, epidemiological studies on disease manifestation, historical claims rates, and prevailing award levels. The team submitted declarations concerning Dow Corning’s motion to enforce provisions of the Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization related to the funding and administration of the Breast Implant Personal Injury Settlement Facility in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Dow Corning Breast Implants Bankruptcy Settlement
A Brattle expert was retained prior to the bankruptcy proceedings by Federal-Mogul Global, Inc. to estimate the number and value of future asbestos-related personal injury claims. He developed a national forecast of mesothelioma’s expected incidence and asbestos-related injuries using epidemiological models. The consulting team also estimated expected filing rates and projected the number of claims expected to be paid in the future. The team valued the claims and computed their present value to assess trust funding adequacy based on historical settlement data.
Federal-Mogul Asbestos Bankruptcy
Key Contacts
Thought Leadership
Measuring Improvements in the Tort System. Inside ALEC,” with Paul J. Hinton, American Legislative Exchange Council (2012)
Related Practices
about brattle
The Brattle Group answers complex economic, regulatory, and financial questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. We aim for the highest level of client service and quality in our industry.
We are distinguished by our credibility and the clarity of our insights, which arise from the stature of our experts; affiliations with leading international academics and industry specialists; and thoughtful, timely, and transparent work. Our clients value our commitment to providing clear, independent results that withstand critical review. Brattle has over 500 talented professionals across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.