In almost all cases, a person who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma has the right to recover compensation. The spouse of the person diagnosed also has a claim for injuries.
Your Right to File a Mesothelioma Law Suit
Asbestos is the only known cause of mesothelioma. As far back as the 1950s, most of the manufacturers of asbestos-containing products knew that their products were harmful to workers, including the risk of developing mesothelioma.
Despite this knowledge, however, these companies did not warn workers of these dangers or take action to protect them.
If a person diagnosed with mesothelioma has died, his wife, children or designated person from the will have the right to file a mesothelioma case against the asbestos manufacturers.
Statute of Limitations
If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or if a loved one diagnosed with mesothelioma is deceased, your case must be filed within the statute of limitations.
A statute of limitations is the time by which a person must file a lawsuit after a claim arises. If the lawsuit is not filed by that date, the person will forever be barred from seeking compensation for their injuries.
Each state has its own statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit. In most cases, the statute of limitations for filing a mesothelioma lawsuit is one or two years from the date a person is diagnosed with the disease or, in the case of a wrongful death, the date that a person died of mesothelioma.
It is very important to contact a mesothelioma asbestos lawyer before the statute of limitation passes.
Contingency Contracts – Payment to your Mesothelioma Asbestos Lawyer
Your mesothelioma asbestos lawyer will represent you in your mesothelioma lawsuit on a contingency basis. This means that your mesothelioma asbestos lwayer is only paid after there has been a settlement with an asbestos company.
If there is no mesothelioma settlement, you will not pay anything to your mesothelioma asbestos attorney.
Identifying the Manufacturers of Asbestos Products
Before you can file a lawsuit for mesothelioma, your mesothelioma asbestos lawyer must know the asbestos companies to sue. It is your mesothelioma asbestos lawyer’s job to find out about your asbestos exposure and which companies to include in the mesothelioma lawsuit.
To do this, your mesothelioma asbestos attorney will find out when and where you were exposed to asbestos products, and what type of jobs you did. After this, your mesothelioma asbestoslawyer will show you photographs of asbestos products that you may have been exposed to see if you recognize any of the products.
In addition, if you have trouble remembering the products, your mesothelioma asbestos lawyer will investigate the locations where you worked and talk with co-workers to find out more about the asbestos products.
Filing the Mesothelioma Law Suit
After your mesothelioma asbestos attorney has identified the asbestos companies, your mesothelioma law firm will file a lawsuit naming those companies as defendants. Your case will not be filed as a class action. It will be filed as an individual mesothelioma lawsuit.
Your mesothelioma case will be filed in the state that your asbestos lawyer determines will provide you with the best chances of recovering the most compensation. This may not be the state where you live or where you were exposed because of differences in the laws of each state.
If your case is not filed where you live, you will not have to pay more than if it the lawsuit were filed in your state.
Some of the companies responsible for your mesothelioma cannot be sued in court because they have been granted protection under the bankruptcy laws. Many of those companies, however, have set aside significant amounts of money to pay for injuries from their asbestos products.
Although these companies will not be part of the filed lawsuit, your mesothelioma asbestos attorneys will recover settlements of your claims from these companies as well.
Compensation for your Mesothelioma Injuries
You are entitled to different types of compensation for the injuries you have suffered from Mesothelioma. These damages include lost income and future lost income, current and future medical expenses, compensation for your and your family’s pain and suffering, and, in some cases, punitive damages against the asbestos companies because of their conduct.
The amount of compensation for your mesothelioma injuries will depend on a number of factors, such as the extent of your exposure, the products you were exposed to, the dates and locations of your asbestos exposure, and the experience and resources of your mesothelioma asbestos attorneys.
Although this amount varies significantly, the average mesothelioma case settles in the range of $750,000 to $8 million.