In recent months, silica litigation has developed two major trends, according to a report from Guy Carpenter & Co. As a large percentage of silica lawsuits have been filed in Texas and Mississippi, the study examines two decisions recently made in Texas courtrooms.

The risk and reinsurance firm's newest study is an update to its 2004 report, Silica: A Liigation Sandstorm. Although the 2004 report discussed the nature of silica claim exposure and the options for analyzing and responding to the risk, the update seeks to discern trends in the U.S. legal system, comments on the ultimate potential cost of silica litigation, and provides a review of the silica liability issue in Europe.

The Texas Supreme Court's ruling in Gomez v. Humble highlights one of the major trends. The court considered the bulk supplier defense, whether a supplier of an unreasonably dangerous product has a duty to warn a customer's employees. A lower appellate court had found that the supplier did have such a duty. The state's high court held that a duty to warn on the part of a silica supplier was dependent on whether the supplier could effectively reach its customers' employees. Because evidence on this issue was missing from the record, the court ordered a new trial.