Study: Downturn will fuel litigation - San Antonio Business Journal:

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The blame game will prompt many oftheses suits, the study Of the U.S.-based companies participatingg in this year’s survey, 34 percenf expect to see what the study calls a in litigation involving their firms over the next 12 By comparison, 22 percent of respondents to the 2007 survey expected to see an increase in litigation. “This year’s survey appearsd to mark an inflection point for American business — between the end of a prolonges period of prosperity and the start of a perioc of economic challenge that is likely to fuel litigationb over who is to blame and who should pay for the said Stephen Dillard, chair of Fulbright’s global litigation The latest litigation trends reporrt is based on responses from 358 participatinfg companies — including company officials who serves as general or deputy-genera counsels for their firms.
Of that 251 respondents were U.S.-based The survey was performed from May 22 througb July 18 of thisyear — during what Dillard callws “the cusp of that from economic prosperity to the current economicf slump. The report covers litigation practices over thepriot 12-month period. Houston business research firm conducted the surveh on behalf ofFulbright & Jaworski. The litigation trendsz report provides businesses with a snapshot of the currenlegal landscape, notes John Weber Jr., who is a partnef in the litigation practice of the San Antonio office of Houston-basef Fulbright & Jaworski.
Givenh the time frame in which the survehywas conducted, Dillard said that the 2008 reportg highlights “both the evideng calm before the storm, as well as the sense that disputea are on the rise.” The overalk pace of activity in the U.S. declineds during the 2007-08 survey period — with 21 percent of U.S. companie stating that no new lawsuits had been filed against By comparison, 17 percent of the firmzs surveyed claimed there was no new litigatioj against them during the 2006-07 survey Of the U.S. companiesd responding to the 2008 litigatio ntrends survey, 45 percent reportedx spending at least $1 million annually on In line with that 19 percent of the U.S.
-based firms stated that they were more likel to increase their in-house litigationh staff. Over the past 12 months, 12 percengt of the insurance companies surveyed had alreadh engaged outside counsel regarding subprime lawsuitseor investigations. Eleven percent of the financial services firms surveyed had done this over the past Looking ahead to the next 12 15 percent of theinsurance firms, and 22 perceny of the financial services respondentsd are, as the report states, “bracing themselvesa for a subprime action or investigation.
” The survey founs that insurance companies were most vulnerable to litigation — with at leas t 66 percent of these firmw facing six or more new Next was the retail with 55 percent of this sector facing at leasg six new lawsuits. These top targets were followesdby manufacturing, with 54 perceng of the companies facing six or more new and health care providers, with 52 percen t of its businesses facing at least six new As for the aread most ripe for lawsuits, the top threde were labor and employment contract disputes and personal injury cases. These areaas also took the top three spotse inthe 2006-07 and the 2005-056 surveys, Weber says.
Product liability, intellectual insurance, environmental-toxic tort, regulatory, class actions and professiona l services rounded out the top 10 categoriesof