Legal Options for Families Affected by Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma qualifies for expedited approval under Social Security's Compassionate Allowances program, which fast-tracks claims for the most serious conditions. Instead of waiting months or years for a decision, many mesothelioma patients are approved within weeks.

If you've worked and paid into Social Security, you likely qualify for monthly disability payments based on your work history, plus Medicare coverage after a waiting period. Family members may also qualify for additional benefits as dependents. You don't need to prove fault or identify responsible companies—you just need to document your qualifying medical condition, which we can do for you.

Importantly, receiving SSDI doesn't prevent you from pursuing lawsuits or trust fund claims and it won't interfere with any other benefits you're currently receiving.

If you're a veteran, we'll also help you pursue VA disability compensation, healthcare, and survivor benefits. The VA recognizes that military personnel faced significant asbestos exposure, especially those who served aboard ships, in engine rooms, or around military vehicles and equipment.

Veterans who can establish a connection between their military service and asbestos exposure may receive monthly tax-free compensation based on their disability rating, comprehensive medical care through the VA system, and potential survivor benefits for spouses and dependents. These service-connected benefits acknowledge that your illness resulted from serving your country.

VA benefits are completely separate from civilian compensation, meaning you can receive full VA benefits while also pursuing lawsuits, trust fund claims, and Social Security disability. There's no conflict—each provides independent support for you and your family.

While your disability claims provide immediate monthly income, we'll simultaneously build your asbestos trust fund claims. These trusts exist because of decades of litigation that held companies accountable for asbestos exposure. As lawsuits mounted through the 1970s and 1980s, more than sixty companies declared bankruptcy to avoid mounting legal liabilities. But courts didn't let them simply walk away. Instead, these companies were required to fund permanent trust accounts with billions of dollars from insurance policies and company assets. This money was specifically set aside to compensate victims like you and your family.

A Streamlined Administrative Process

Trust claims work very differently from lawsuits. There's no courtroom, no jury, and no confronting corporate lawyers. Instead, we handle everything through a streamlined administrative process. Our legal team documents your asbestos exposure history, proving which products you were exposed to, and submits this information along with your medical evidence to the appropriate trusts. Settlements are based on predictable frameworks, making the process much more straightforward than litigation.

Complete Confidentiality

Trust claims are entirely confidential. Your former employers, coworkers, and anyone else will never know you filed a claim. The money comes from pools of funds that were set aside decades ago specifically for people with asbestos-related illnesses—this money does not come from active corporate budgets. That means no one loses their job when you file a claim, no company goes out of business from your settlement, and no current operations are affected. These are insurance proceeds and company assets that courts required to be preserved for victims like you. Remember, the companies that made and sold asbestos products knew their products were deadly so they bought insurance policies to protect them from the consequences of their own decisions. There is no need to feel guilty or awkward about making a claim.

Multiple Claims Maximize Your Recovery

Most workers were exposed to products from multiple manufacturers, making them eligible for numerous trust funds. We routinely file claims with twenty, thirty, or more trusts for individual clients, especially in mesothelioma cases. Each trust compensates only for its company's products, so pursuing multiple claims ensures you receive full accountability for all the exposures that contributed to your illness.

This is where our firm's research advantage makes a significant difference. Our massive proprietary database documents which asbestos products were used at specific job sites 40, 50, or even 60 years ago. While other firms spend months investigating exposure history, we often know within days which products were present at your workplace and which trusts owe you compensation. Our research archives include decades of depositions, job site manifests, product catalogs, and witness testimony that prove exposure even when memories have faded.

Substantial Tax-Free Compensation

Individual trust payments typically range from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the disease and the trust's funding. When combined across multiple trusts, total compensation often reaches six or seven figures for mesothelioma cases, and these settlements are completely tax-free.

Workers with direct occupational exposure and family members with secondary exposure qualify. If you lived with someone who brought asbestos dust home from work on their clothing, you may qualify for significant compensation if you develop an asbestos-related disease.

Your Foundation While You Consider Litigation

Trust fund claims work independently from lawsuits, disability benefits, and workers' compensation. As we build your trust claims, you'll have time to learn about litigation and decide whether pursuing lawsuits against solvent companies is right for your family, without any pressure or rush to make that decision.

The simple truth about dangerous products is this: they don't have to be banned to be sold safely. Gasoline can explode. Rat poison can kill. Yet both are sold every day because consumers know what they're buying and can protect themselves accordingly.

That's the core idea behind product liability law: if a company sells something dangerous without warning of the hazards, they can be held accountable for the harm caused by their product.

You see this principle every day—many household cleaners contain toxic chemicals. You can still buy them, but they come with big warning labels, because they smell nice but will harm or kill you if misused. Asbestos was different, though. It was odorless, invisible, and deadly, and yet many companies gave workers no warnings at all.

If a company knew or should have known the product could cause cancer and failed to provide clear, visible warnings, then the product is considered defective. And when companies actively tried to hide those risks or lied about the dangers (as many asbestos manufacturers did), they can be required to pay punitive damages to the families they hurt.

Who this applies to: Workers who handled asbestos products directly, as well as family members who developed illness through secondary exposure from contaminated clothing or equipment brought home from work.

Common defendants: Manufacturers of asbestos insulation, brake components, gaskets, floor tiles, roofing materials, and industrial equipment containing asbestos.

Under premises liability law, property owners have a basic responsibility: keep people safe. That includes workers, contractors, and anyone else lawfully on the property. If the owner knows there's a dangerous condition on the property (like asbestos) and fails to warn people or take reasonable precautions, they can be held liable for the harm that results.

Asbestos premises lawsuits typically arise from places like refineries, factories, shipyards, and power plants. Sites like these had asbestos everywhere: in insulation, pipe coverings, machinery, and structural materials. Many of these facilities continued using asbestos long after its dangers were well known, failing to warn the people working inside.

These lawsuits target the owners and operators of those properties, not the manufacturers of the asbestos products, but the companies that controlled the environment where exposure happened.

Who this applies to: Workers who were exposed at specific worksites, contractors working on dangerous premises, and sometimes family members who visited contaminated facilities.

Common defendants: Shipyard owners, refinery operators, power plant companies, construction site owners, and military facilities where asbestos exposure occurred.

Wrongful death claims are filed by surviving family members when a loved one dies from an asbestos-related illness due to negligence by a company or employer. These lawsuits seek compensation for the family's loss of financial support, companionship, and guidance.

Who can file: Typically spouses, children, parents, or estate representatives, depending on state law. Some states also recognize claims by domestic partners or dependent relatives.

What they cover: Lost income the deceased would have earned, medical expenses related to their final illness, funeral costs, and compensation for the family's emotional loss.

Workers in certain industries are covered by special federal laws that provide different legal pathways than traditional state court lawsuits:

Railroad Worker Lawsuits (FELA): Railroad workers exposed to asbestos must file lawsuits under the Federal Employers Liability Act, which allows them to recover damages outside traditional workers' compensation systems and sometimes provides more generous compensation.

Maritime Worker Lawsuits (Jones Act): Seamen and shipbuilders exposed to asbestos while working aboard ships must file claims under the Jones Act, a federal law that protects maritime workers injured on the job with enhanced protections and compensation.

In many states, workers cannot sue their direct employer for injuries sustained on the job. Instead, these claims must be handled through the state's workers' compensation system. Workers' comp provides medical coverage and partial wage replacement but typically offers less compensation than a successful lawsuit.

When workers' comp applies: Usually when exposure occurred during regular employment duties with your direct employer, and state law prohibits lawsuits against employers for workplace injuries.

What's still possible: Even in workers' comp situations, you may still be able to sue third-party manufacturers, suppliers, or contractors whose products or negligence contributed to your exposure.

State-by-state variations: Some states allow direct employer lawsuits for certain diseases like mesothelioma, while limiting others to workers' compensation. Each state has unique rules about what injuries qualify for lawsuits versus workers' comp claims.