The asbestos coverup began around 1900, at the same time industrial asbestos use began. Asbestos costs were so low, and the demand for this substance was so high, that companies buried health risks for years. They cited fake science articles, questioned the reliability of credible scientists, and downplayed asbestos exposure risks to their workers.

Over 90 percent of asbestos exposure and other personal injury matters settle out of court.

As outlined below, settlement is a process, not a result. When an asbestos exposure lawyer settles a case, the victim benefits, mostly because a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. A certain good outcome, like a favorable settlement, is better than the possibility of something better, like a larger verdict at trial. Furthermore, defendants often keep trial verdicts tied up in appeals courts for years. But when defendants settle cases, they immediately write checks.

Also as outlined below, most asbestos exposure victims have multiple legal options, usually depending on the nature and circumstances of that exposure.

Enfermedades por exposición al asbesto

Occupational lung cancer, including pleural mesothelioma (PlM), is the most common asbestos exposure-related illness. 

PlM tumors form in the membranes of the mesothelium (layer that separates the heart and lungs). Even with advanced testing techniques, tiny tumors in this thick layer are hard to find. As a result, the early treatment window closes, making the outcome much worse. PlM’s five-year survival rate is less than 10 percent.

Asbestos Causes More Lung Cancer than Any Other Cancer, Including Mesothelioma

Asbestos also causes other kinds of lung cancer. In fact, asbestos exposure is the leading cause of occupational lung cancer in the world. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, many asbestos exposure victims smoked, substantially increasing the risk of lung cancer.

Full compensation is available, even if a pre-existing or non-work condition contributed to the risk and/or severity of asbestos-related lung cancer or another illness.

These illnesses include non-malignant lung diseases, such as pleural thickening and asbestosis. Toxic asbestos fibers inflame the already-thick pleural mesothelium. In extreme cases, this inflammation practically crushes the lungs. Asbestos fibers also burn airways in the lungs, creating scar tissue. As this scar tissue accumulates, victims have increasing trouble breathing.

Possible Asbestos Exposure Victims

Occupational asbestos exposure victims include direct and indirect exposure victims. Many industries heavily used asbestos, including:

  • Construcción naval: After a 1967 fire aboard the USS Forrestal killed or injured three hundred sailors, shipbuilders laced naval vessels with asbestos from stem to stern, especially in high-risk fire areas, like ammunition storage areas and boiler rooms.
  • Fabricación: Auto parts, especially parts like brake pads and hood liners, must withstand incredible amounts of heat and friction. Therefore, such parts were mostly made from asbestos, at least until about 1980. Other asbestos-laced manufactured products included heat-resistant fabrics, packaging, gaskets, and coatings.
  • Construcción: Asbestos doesn’t conduct heat or electricity. Therefore, construction workers stuffed attics with asbestos and wrapped pipes and electrical wires with asbestos. Other construction materials, like roof tiles, ceiling tiles, and floor tiles, were laced with asbestos.

Muchos productos occupational asbestos exposure victims didn’t handle this substance. But they did work in asbestos-laced facilities. Dust and fibers seeped through hairline cracks in walls and ceilings. Additionally, once they became airborne, asbestos fibers floated into common areas.

Secondary Asbestos Exposure is Dangerous and Can Receive Compensation Under the Law

The floatation factor also created ambient exposure victims. Exposed workers unknowingly carried asbestos fibers home on their clothes and hair, where these fibers infected friends and family members.

An increasing number of ambient exposure victims are indirect ambient exposure victims. Talc-asbestos victims are a good example. Johnson & Johnson knew its talcum powder was laced with asbestos. Nevertheless, the company encouraged women to use this product daily. Johnson & Johnson recently set aside $11 billion to settle the first wave of talc-asbestos cases.

Pathway to Settlement

The settlement process begins before an asbestos exposure lawyer files legal paperwork. First, an attorney must determine a claim’s settlement value.

Basically, the settlement value resembles a home’s asking price. The calculation begins with economic losses, mostly the high cost of cancer or other illness treatments when combined with lost wages. To determine noneconomic losses, most asbestos exposure lawyers multiply the economic losses by two, three, or four, depending on the facts of the case, the legal issues in the case, and a few other factors.

Punitive damages, another important component of an asbestos settlement, must be high enough to convince a company to change its ways and low enough to pass constitutional and other scrutiny.

Cases rarely settle before an attorney files legal paperwork. Mostly depending on the facts of the case and the jurisdiction (asbestos exposure laws vary in some states), the legal options include:

  • Negligencia: Companies have a duty to warn consumers about known side effects. As mentioned above, many companies buried these risks instead of warning people about them. If a lack of care caused injury, compensation is available,
  • No-Fault: These claims include Social Security Disability, workers’ compensation, and VA disability. No-fault victims need not prove negligence or another form of fault. In most cases, they must only prove that their lung cancer or other illness was related to exposición al asbesto.

Non-legal claims, such as a bankruptcy victim compensation find claim, may be available as well. When asbestos companies declared bankruptcy, federal judges required them to establish large victim compensation funds. Since no adverse lawyer challenges the victim’s evidence, a bare-bones case is usually sufficient for maximum compensation.