On July 18, the NAM filed a coalition brief in an asbestos injury case in which the plaintiffs’ attorneys are seeking to move the bar on the current law of causation in the state of South Carolina. Our brief urges the Supreme Court of South Carolina to reverse a trial court judgment that allowed expert testimony on asbestos causation without requiring an assessment of the dose required to cause injury or identifying how much exposure for the defendant’s product occurred. In this case, the plaintiff expert espoused a cumulative exposure theory of causation: that all exposures to asbestos contribute to the likelihood of developing disease. We argue that the cumulative exposure theory is simply a repacking of the each and every exposure theory—that each and every exposure to asbestos can cause disease—that courts have uniformly rejected and is inconsistent with the substantial factor standard the Court has adopted.
Unfortunately, on February 28, 2024, the Supreme Court of South Carolina affirmed the trial court's decision.