Plaintiffs’ Flawed Reliance on the So-Called “10 Key Characteristics” of Cancer
publication | April 16, 2024
Plaintiffs’ counsel in products liability litigation are increasingly using the so-called “10 key characteristics of cancer” as a checklist to connect plaintiffs’ alleged exposure to an alleged carcinogen with the development of cancer.
Based on IARC monographs that also use the 10 key characteristics as a proxy for cancer causation, plaintiffs’ counsel are increasingly urging jurors to conclude that if a chemical satisfies even one of these “key characteristics,” the mechanism by which the chemical can and does cause cancer is proven and so is causation. This “check the box” approach allows plaintiffs to claim they have established general causation (and perhaps specific causation depending on the expert’s qualifications and materials reviewed) without meeting the generally accepted requirements for doing so. It also allows plaintiffs to claim their burden of proof is met by a lower level of evidence (i.e., screening-level mechanistic studies of varying – and often low – quality) than traditionally required (i.e., human data or high-quality rodent data).
In this article, Hollingsworth LLP attorneys Heather Pigman and Marchello Gray examine the origins of the theory, how it is used by plaintiffs, and how to successfully defend against it.