Our asbestos claim process

Filing a personal injury claim is often perceived as a daunting, time-consuming endeavor due to the numerous aspects it involves. Accordingly, many victims of asbestos exposure decide against recovering the compensation they deserve out of fear of a never-ending and exhausting process. However, while asbestos cases are indeed complex, it is the attorney and their team who carry out the challenging tasks. If you are a victim of asbestos exposure, we strongly encourage you to file a claim for compensation. Our lawyers will permanently offer you assistance and efficiently take care of the demanding aspects on your behalf.

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Legal process and steps for asbestos exposure claims

With a professional experience of over 20 years, our attorneys have successfully represented thousands of clients throughout the U.S. and are bound to dedicate their time and effort to obtain the compensation you deserve.

Why Hire Us Asbestos Compensation

The preliminary step: Am I eligible for compensation?

The preliminary step: am I eligible for compensation?

There are certain eligibility criteria you need to meet in order to seek financial compensation for the disease you developed as a result of asbestos exposure. However, it is important to know that asbestos exposure cases have a statute of limitations of 3 years from the moment you find out your diagnosis is the consequence of asbestos exposure in the majority of states. If the statute of limitations is exceeded, you can no longer file a claim to recover the compensation you deserve. Thereby, if you have a history of asbestos exposure and came to struggle with a disease because of it, you should make pursuing a claim for compensation a priority, in addition to your treatment.

Eligibility requirements for former industrial workers

If you were exposed to asbestos in occupational settings and subsequently developed a related disease, our attorneys can help you file a claim as long as the statute of limitations is still valid. You will have to send your attorney your employment records, which will be used as evidence of occupational asbestos exposure, and your medical records, which will stand as proof of related diagnosis. The rest of the paperwork will be efficiently taken care of by our legal team. Your claim will be filed with the asbestos trust fund of the company you worked for and, if you were exposed to asbestos by multiple companies, we will file a claim with all of them. It is important to know that if you have cancer, your claim will be expedited so that you can obtain the compensation you are entitled to within a shorter period of time.

While the legal process is very complex, it will require minimal involvement on your part and you will not need to travel to Birmingham, Alabama if you have a cancer diagnosis, as everything will unfold over the phone. On the other hand, if you have benign disease, such as asbestosis, you will need to come to our law firm so that you can undergo asbestos screening, during which our medical specialists will determine whether there are asbestos fibers in your lungs. The asbestos screening will take about 2 hours and will involve chest X-rays, as well as breathing and blood tests. Here are the eligibility requirements for former industrial workers injured by asbestos exposure:

must have a diagnosis that makes you eligible for seeking compensation
must have been exposed to asbestos on the job
must have been diagnosed within the last 3 years

Eligibility requirements for veterans

Numerous veterans, particularly those who served in the U.S. Navy, were exposed to asbestos, as the military made use of tremendous amounts of asbestos due to the convenient properties it has, as well as because it was very cheap. It is estimated that there were 300 different asbestos products on every Navy ship during the last century, which led to severe exposure. If you are a veteran who served before 1980 when regulations concerning the use of asbestos came into effect and developed a disease you believe is related to military asbestos exposure, please contact our law firm and we will file a claim both with the asbestos trust funds of the companies whose dangerous products you handled and with the VA, as they also offer disability compensation to veterans injured by asbestos exposure during service. These are the eligibility requirements for veterans whose health was affected by military asbestos exposure:

must have worked with asbestos products during military service
must have a diagnosis that makes you eligible for seeking compensation
must have received your diagnosis within the last 3 years

Eligibility requirements for cancer patients

If your asbestos exposure, whether occupational, military, or secondary, resulted in the development of cancer, your claim will be expedited, as we prioritize clients who have malignant diseases. This way, you will receive the compensation you deserve within a shorter period of time. It is worthy of note that if you struggle with cancer, you will not have to come to Birmingham, Alabama, as we will only need you to send our attorneys your employment or military records and your medical records, documents that will be used to support your claim. If you are too ill to participate in the legal process, a family member can step in and help you with the paperwork. The legal process, in this case, will unfold over the phone only. These are the eligibility requirements for cancer patients with a history of asbestos exposure:

must have been exposed to asbestos on the job, in the military, or by living in the same house as a worker who handled asbestos on a regular basis
must have a cancer diagnosis that makes you eligible for seeking compensation
must have received your diagnosis within the last 3 years so that the statute of limitations is not exceeded

Eligibility for local screening

If you developed a benign disease following asbestos exposure, regardless of the circumstances, you will need to come to Birmingham, Alabama for a free of charge asbestos screening, as oftentimes, these diseases are misdiagnosed. Our medical experts will thoroughly examine your lungs for asbestos fibers by using diagnostic tools such as chest X-rays, as well as breathing and blood tests. Therefore, if you have a disease such as asbestosis, pulmonary fibrosis, or lung scarring and live within driving distance of Birmingham, Alabama, please come to our law firm and our medical specialists will examine you. If your diagnosis is on the list of eligible diseases, our attorneys will help you file a claim with asbestos trust funds, if you are a former industrial worker, and also with the VA if you are a veteran. Eventually, you will recover the maximum compensation available. These are the eligibility criteria for local asbestos screening:

must have a history of occupational, military, or secondary asbestos exposure
must have a lung disease that is benign and may have been caused by asbestos exposure
must have received your diagnosis within the last 3 years

Eligibility requirements in wrongful death asbestos exposure cases for family members

It is not uncommon for asbestos exposure victims to fail to pursue a claim for compensation during their lifetime, usually out of fear of a long and complicated process. Nevertheless, if you lost a family member to a disease caused by asbestos exposure, whether occupational or military, please reach out to our attorneys, as they can help you file a wrongful death claim with the companies responsible for their death. The only documents you will need to provide your attorney with are the employment or military records of your deceased loved one, their medical records and their death certificate, which must clearly state that their life was claimed by a disease stemming from asbestos exposure. The following are the eligibility criteria for the family members of a deceased asbestos exposure victim:

must have a close family member who lost their life to a disease caused by asbestos exposure
must seek financial compensation within 2 years from the moment of death, as the statute of limitations for wrongful death asbestos exposure cases implies a shorter period of time

Eligibility for secondary asbestos exposure

Secondary asbestos exposure was a frequent occurrence during the last century, as numerous workers who handled the mineral on the job would return home with toxic fibers on their clothes, as employers would not require asbestos workers to wear any protective equipment. By laundering their work clothes, their wives would be exposed to asbestos, whereas their children would inhale and ingest asbestos fibers when greeting their fathers upon coming back home from the job. If you developed a disease you suspect is the result of secondary asbestos exposure, do not hesitate to contact our law firm, as we can help you file a claim to recover financial compensation for your physical and emotional suffering. These are the eligibility requirements for secondary asbestos exposure victims:

must have lived under the same roof as a worker who would often handle asbestos products on the job
must have a diagnosis that makes you eligible for seeking compensation
must have received your diagnosis within the last 3 years

Eligibility in the case of a misdiagnosis

Oftentimes, diseases that are caused by asbestos exposure are misdiagnosed, as they have a low prevalence and medical professionals rarely have the chance to examine victims of asbestos exposure. To make sure you have a correct and accurate diagnosis, you need to seek a second and even a third opinion from different medical specialists. Only after you have the right diagnosis we will be able to help you file a claim to recover the compensation you deserve. However, you should keep in mind that only certain diseases qualify you for filing a claim. People who struggle with cancer as a result of asbestos exposure have immediate eligibility, as their disease is often very serious, even terminal. The following are the eligibility criteria for people who may have been misdiagnosed:

must have been exposed to asbestos on the job or during military service
must have a diagnosis that makes you eligible for filing a claim
must have received your diagnosis within the last 3 years

1

We thoroughly research your asbestos case

2

Preparing your asbestos claim for submission

3

We file your claim with asbestos trust funds

4

You receive compensation for your injury

Step 1: We thoroughly research your asbestos case

Research is without a doubt fundamental when it comes to preparing your asbestos claim. Our experts will conduct elaborate research to discover additional details concerning the circumstances of your exposure and your former employer. What we find may prove to be instrumental in achieving the optimal results for your case. Due to the long latency of their illness, asbestos victims typically seek compensation several decades after exposure took place. Thereby, it is often very difficult – if not downright impossible – to remember every aspect concerning your occupational asbestos exposure and a lot of essential details might be left out.

The extra information we strive to collect so as to speed up the claim filing process and help you recover a larger amount of compensation pertain to:

the asbestos products you handled or were exposed to on the job
where exactly asbestos exposure occurred at your former workplace
which of your work tasks would involve handling asbestos products
how your occupation was related to asbestos exposure
the duration of asbestos exposure

We will also actively help you recall more information with regard to your asbestos exposure. Your family members and former co-workers can join our legal team in this endeavor, too, if they will. Our law firm has access to a wide range of resources, which are meant to jog your memory, including:

product identification catalogs, which contain descriptions and pictures of asbestos products you might have come in contact with on the job
our extensive database, by virtue of which we can identify over 200,000 asbestos products

Step 2: Preparing your asbestos claim for submission

After we gather sufficient information to include in your asbestos claim, our legal team will efficiently take care of the necessary paperwork before submitting it. We will also double-check your employment records and medical documents to ensure they support the causal relationship between asbestos exposure and your diagnosis without fault. We will also report to Medicare to obtain a clearance so as it will release the necessary funds to you. If multiple companies were responsible for your exposure, you are eligible for financial compensation from each one's asbestos trust fund. We will also seek to discover whether there were any other asbestos companies whose products you were in contact with.

Should you qualify for filing a claim with multiple asbestos trust funds, the amount of compensation you will receive may grow substantially. At the end of the preparation phase, we will ask you to sign affidavits documenting your exposure and your attorney will subsequently submit your asbestos claim to each asbestos trust fund you qualify for, along with your documents.

Step 3: We file your claim with one or multiple asbestos trust funds

Following submission, we will wait for the board of trustees, who are responsible for processing the claims and paying out eligible claimants, to approve your request. Each asbestos trust fund operates by a different set of rules and pays out only a certain percentage of the entire compensation you are eligible for, depending on the financial resources they have, as well as on your diagnosis. Consequently, both the waiting time and the amount of compensation you will receive vary from trust fund to trust fund. Depending on the complexity of your case, as well as on the number of asbestos trust funds you filed a claim with, the waiting time can range from one month to one year.

We have two pieces of advice for you in this respect:

Be patient.
Do not set your expectations too high.

Asbestos trust funds pay out compensation to claimants using the First In, First Out (FIFO) accounting method. Therefore, people who filed asbestos claims in 2014, for instance, are going to receive compensation before those whose claims were submitted more recently. The waiting time also depends on the size of the asbestos trust fund in question and on the number of claims it has to process, as well as on how fast the board of trustees is able to review them. In general, local asbestos trust funds have between 2,000 and 3,000 claims awaiting review every year, whereas larger ones receive approximately 50,000 claims annually.

When it comes to the sum of money you can recover from each asbestos trust fund, it is important to keep in mind that they also have Maximum Allowable Payments (MAPs). Therefore, a trust which pays out only $1 million per year will no longer process asbestos claims if the limit is met and thereby, your claim will be pending until next year. However, the following key factors will ultimately influence the amount of compensation you are eligible for:

your diagnosis – while mesothelioma is the highest-paying illness, non-malignant conditions are worth less money, according to the rules of asbestos trust funds
the percentage paid out by the asbestos trust fund – depending on the financial resources it has, each asbestos trust fund will pay out a different percentage of the total sum of money a claimant qualifies for, which may range from 4% to 100% (the average percentage is 30)
claim review type – submitting your asbestos claim via individual review might provide you with more compensation than using an expedited review

Step 4: You receive compensation for your injury

Following approval, each asbestos trust fund pays out the compensation you are eligible for, which you are to receive in one installment. Asbestos claims submitted via expedited review will result in a preset sum of money, whereas the compensation you receive from those who undergo individual review will vary depending on factors such as:

your diagnosis and how severe your illness is
the number of dependents you have
your age
non-economic damages you have suffered

While individual review often provides claimants with more compensation, liquidation ensues within a longer period of time if this option is chosen, as the board of trustees must thoroughly assess your personal circumstances and the documents accompanying your asbestos claim. How your claim should be submitted is a question only a lawyer specialized in asbestos cases will be able to answer, since there are numerous aspects that need to be carefully taken into account and each situation requires a unique approach.

Having a lawyer with vast experience in handling asbestos exposure cases prepare and submit your claim is the most effective way of recovering financial compensation. They will be able to speed up the legal process considerably and make well-informed decisions with regard to how your asbestos claim should be submitted and the evidence necessary to support it, which is bound to provide you with the maximum compensation you can recover in the shortest time possible.

Recovering compensation as a former industrial worker

If you have a history of occupational asbestos exposure and developed a related disease, you are eligible for compensation from asbestos trust funds. With over 25 years of experience in pursuing compensation for the victims of asbestos exposure, our attorneys will help you file a claim with one or multiple asbestos trust funds, depending on the number of companies that exposed you to asbestos. Because the legal process is very complex, the assistance of a specialized attorney is necessary. Following the initial discussion, during which you will need to describe the circumstances of your asbestos exposure, your attorney will begin preparing your claim for submission. However, the claim must be accompanied by solid evidence to be approved by asbestos trust funds, such as your employment records, which must state that you handled asbestos on the job, and your medical records, which must explain that your diagnosis is the result of occupational asbestos exposure. To gather additional evidence to support your claim, our legal experts will conduct in-depth research. Eventually, you will receive the compensation you deserve, within 3 months to 1 year, depending on the severity of your diagnosis and the number of asbestos trust funds your claim was filed with.

Claim Evaluation Asbestos Screening

Compensation for veterans injured by military asbestos exposure

Between 1920 and 1980, veterans were heavily exposed to asbestos, which is why today, 30% of veterans struggle with a disease as a consequence of military asbestos exposure. Thereby, if you are a veteran who suffers from a disease that occurred as a result of asbestos exposure, you are entitled to compensation from both asbestos trust funds and the VA, which offers compensation to veterans injured by toxic agents while serving in the military in the form of disability compensation. Our attorneys will help you file a claim with the asbestos trust funds of the companies which manufactured the hazardous products you were in contact with, as well as with the VA. You will only need to provide your attorney with your military and medical records, documents which will be used as evidence of asbestos exposure and of related diagnosis. The average waiting time for veterans is 4 months from the moment of claim submission. However, if you struggle with severe diseases, such as mesothelioma, your attorney will expedite your claim so that you will receive the compensation you deserve within the shortest time possible. It is important to know that seeking compensation from asbestos trust funds does not disqualify you from receiving disability benefits from the VA.

Claim Evaluation Asbestos Screening

The surviving family members of a victim of asbestos exposure are also eligible for compensation

In the unfortunate case, you have a family member who passed away to a disease caused by asbestos exposure, you can still recover compensation on their behalf by filing a claim with asbestos trust funds and, if they were a veteran, with the VA with the help of a specialized attorney. Because wrongful death cases that involve asbestos exposure are significantly more challenging, additional evidence must accompany the claim. However, you will only need to provide your attorney with the employment or military records, the medical records, and the death certificate of your deceased loved one, as the rest of the evidence will be gathered by our legal experts, who will conduct in-depth research. It is important to know that wrongful death asbestos exposure cases have a statute of limitations of 2 years from the moment of death in the majority of states, which should make pursuing a claim for compensation a priority for you. Since 1990, our attorneys have been helping the family members of asbestos victims recover the compensation they deserved and will gladly offer you quality legal assistance as well.

Claim Evaluation Asbestos Screening

Misconceptions about asbestos claims

I will not have time to focus on my treatment anymore

Your health should always come first, especially when you suffer from such a serious and distressing disease as those caused by asbestos exposure. Our process is simple and easy and requires only conversations over the phone. We also work with family members that will help us obtain the medical records we need. However, you should know that the time you have to recover compensation from asbestos trust funds is limited, and filling the claim within 2 years since you receive your diagnosis is essential. The statute of limitations, which is different for each state, prevents you from filing an asbestos claim if a certain time limit is exceeded.

When you work with us, you will not have to worry about not having enough time for your doctors' appointments and treatment, as we take care of all legal aspects and documents for you.

Recovering compensation will take too long

While it is true that the process of preparing a claim can take several months, as there are numerous aspects our attorneys take care of. Our clients generally receive compensation from asbestos trust funds within one year after submission. This is why it is very important to file a claim as soon as you are diagnosed, or as soon as possible. For clients who are in particularly poor health, we submit the asbestos claim via Expedited Review, which will speed up the process considerably.

I do not know how I was exposed to asbestos

The vast majority of people who are struggling with asbestos-related diseases were exposed in the workplace several decades ago. If you were diagnosed with lung conditions but do not exactly know where exposure occurred, we can help you pinpoint the exact circumstances. We already have a lot of documentation and proof about thousands of jobs and we also collaborate with occupational medicine experts, who are able to determine whether your exposure happened on the job and identify the asbestos-containing products you were in contact with.

I cannot afford a lawyer

If you were diagnosed with life-threatening disease as a result of occupational asbestos exposure, the cost of the legal process should be your least concern. We offer consultations free of charge and work on a contingency fee basis, which means you do not have to pay anything unless your asbestos trust fund claim is approved and we recover compensation for you. When we file a claim with the asbestos trust funds of the liable companies, the risk of losing money is practically non-existent. Our standard fee is a 40% contingency fee. This means we only collect the fee when we are able to collect compensation for a client. If we do not collect anything, our clients do not pay anything out of pocket.

I am a veteran, but I do not want to sue the government

In the case of veterans exposed to asbestos while serving in the military, it is not the government who will be held responsible if the injured person decides to file an asbestos trust fund claim. The company which manufactured or sold the asbestos products in question already has set up trust funds that provide compensation for victims and family members, instead. Veterans also have the option to seek additional financial compensation and other benefits for themselves and their families from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. By filing a VA claim after filing for an asbestos trust fund, veterans can obtain additional monthly compensation, health care benefits, disability compensation, as well as dependency and indemnity compensation.

Any lawyer can help me recover compensation

Filing asbestos claims might seem like a simple, easy to navigate the process, but in reality, it requires specialized knowledge, extensive experience with the legal system, as well as a lot of careful research. Therefore, only a lawyer who handles exclusively asbestos cases – preferably with several years of experience – will be able to provide you with the assistance you need. Regardless of how complex your situation is, we have competent, well-versed attorneys and a legal team who will know how to attend to any unforeseen issue and speed up the claim process so that you and your family can receive the money you deserve.

Common questions

Why do I need a lawyer for my asbestos case? »

Asbestos cases are complex and also very difficult to pursue. Thereby, it is highly recommended to hire a lawyer specialized in asbestos litigation who can efficiently recover compensation for you.

What does the statute of limitations mean for my asbestos case? »

The statute of limitations refers to the amount of time you have to file an asbestos claim after diagnosis. It varies between one and six years, depending on the state you live in.

What if I want to file an asbestos claim on my own? »

While you can seek compensation by yourself, the complexity of the process is very likely to affect your chances of recovering the amount of money you are truly eligible for.

What is the process for asbestos claims? »

Victims of asbestos exposure can file a claim with asbestos trust funds and, if they are a veteran, with the VA as well, to recover compensation. However, because the legal process is very complex, the assistance of a specialized attorney is necessary.

What are my legal rights with asbestos exposure? »

If you were injured by asbestos exposure, you have the legal right to file a claim with asbestos trust funds and, if you are a veteran, with the VA as well. The family members of asbestos victims who passed away can file a wrongful death claim.

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Main Office:

2160 Highland Ave,
Birmingham, AL 35205

Washington DC Office:

2101 L St NW, Suite 800,
Washington, DC 20037

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No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers. This web site is designed for general information only. The information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.

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