The flood of asbestos cases filed in Philadelphia over recent years has led the courts there to practice reverse bifurcation, where issues of medical causation and damages are tried before issues involving theories of liability and product identification. The NAM believes this procedure, virtually automatic, is prejudicial to defendant manufacturers. Juries are asked to determine how high the damages are, and then, afterwards, to decide whether the defendants are liable. For hundreds of years, in regular tort cases, liability and damages have been tried simultaneously.
The NAM and others filed an application Dec. 10 to join as amici, or friends of the court, in a petition for reconsideration of the court’s procedure. The court denied rehearing and sent the case back for trial.