Third Circuit Courthouse, Madison County
EDWARDSVILLE — Illinois state courts remained America's top destination for asbestos-related personal injury lawsuits in 2025, with Madison County and St. Clair County again accounting for the lion's share of such filings, a new report has indicated.
However, while asbestos-related lawsuits increased nationally, driven largely by increases in lawsuits filed over alleged asbestos exposure in talc products, the total lawsuit numbers dipped slightly in the two Metro East counties.
By contrast, they climbed in courts in Chicago and nearly 120 other jurisdictions.
Those were some of the top line findings of the new 2025 asbestos litigation report from national technology and management consulting company KCIC.
"... The asbestos litigation environment remains active and evolving," the KCIC report said. "Forecasts that it would have largely concluded by this point have not materialized. To the contrary, filings increased in 2025, accompanied by a rise in the proportion of claims involving more serious, cancer-related diseases."
According to the 2025 KCIC report, released April 29, plaintiffs' lawyers filed 4.244 asbestos-related lawsuits in U.S. courts in 2025. That marked an increase of 5.8% from the 4,013 lawsuits filed in 2024.
And it marked the third straight year for such increases, dating back to 2023. That three-year trend represented a complete recovery from the low-point during the Covid pandemic and demonstrated a reversal of the years-long trend. Until 2023, new asbestos filings had been on the decline since 2016, KCIC reported.
The 2025 numbers marked the highest total nationally since 2017.
However, while national totals climbed, the report revealed that much of the new activity appears to be centered in courts outside of Madison and St. Clair counties.
Those counties have long been the epicenter for asbestos-related lawsuit activity nationwide.
Overall, Madison and St. Clair courts again accounted for much of that asbestos litigation, ranking first and second, respectively, among court systems for the most asbestos-related injury claims.
According to KCIC, 872 asbestos-related lawsuits were filed in Madison County Circuit Court in 2025. And an additional 657 asbestos injury lawsuits were filed last year in St. Clair County Circuit Court, the KCIC report said.
Altogether, the two Metro East court systems tallied 1,529 asbestos-related lawsuits, or about 36% of the national total.
When combined with 239 new asbestos lawsuits filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago in 2025, the three court systems again accounted for more than 41% of all new asbestos-related litigation in America.
However, that total still marked a decline from 2024, when the three counties combined to account for nearly half of all U.S. asbestos lawsuits.
The slip was seen mostly in St. Clair County. In recent years, asbestos litigation had increased sharply in St. Clair courts, as observers said it was possible St. Clair could soon surpass neighboring Madison County to become America's asbestos lawsuit capitol.
However, in 2025, new asbestos lawsuits in St. Clair County decreased 22.4% from 2024, KCIC reported.
Asbestos filings also decreased in Madison County, year over year, but only by 1.8% there, according to KCIC.
Meanwhile, asbestos filings increased by 34.3% in Cook County.
And outside of Illinois, asbestos filings increased by 39.7% in courts in Philadelphia; by 25.1% in New York; and by 28.5% in St. Louis.
New York City courts ranked third in the U.S. with 399 asbestos lawsuits. Philadelphia ranked fourth with 380. Cook County ranked fifth. And St. Louis ranked sixth, with 176 filings.
Rounding out the Top 10 asbestos litigation destinations last year were Wayne County, Michigan (159 new lawsuits); Los Angeles (135); and Middlesex, New Jersey (121).
KCIC largely credited the shift in activity to the growing number of lawsuits suing Johnson & Johnson, Avon and others for alleged injuries related to alleged asbestos exposure in baby powder and other cosmetic products containing talc.
Such alleged exposures have spawned thousands of lawsuits throughout the country.
The Gori Law Firm in Edwardsville continued to retain its ranking as the law firm responsible for the most asbestos lawsuit filings last year. However, their total filings declined sharply in 2025, the report indicated.
According to the report, Gori filed 652 lawsuits in 2025, down nearly 20% from 2024.
Despite the decline, the Gori firm remained far ahead of the 500 lawsuits filed in 2024 by the next highest firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, of New York, with offices in New Jersey, Los Angeles and Detroit.
Simmons Hanly Conroy, of Alton, ranked third in the country, with 440 lawsuits, up 12% vs. 2024.
Rounding out the Top 5 busiest asbestos lawsuit filing firms last year were the firms of Maune Raichle Hartley French & Mudd, of St. Louis (285 lawsuits); and Meirowitz & Wasserberg (219 lawsuits), with offices in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and other U.S. cities.
Meirowitz & Wasserberg logged the largest percentage increase in asbestos filings among U.S. firms in 2025. KCIC reported their filings increased by 64.7% last year vs the year prior.
