Mesothelioma compensation comes from four main sources: asbestos trust fund claims, settlements with companies that are still in business, trial verdicts, and, for veterans, VA benefits. Most Pennsylvania families draw from more than one source, because most careers involved asbestos products from many different companies. Which mix applies to you depends on where the exposure happened and which companies were responsible.
Michael Schafle, Esq. - The Pennsylvania Mesothelioma Lawyer
2332 S Broad St,
Philadelphia, PA 19145
Each source has its own process and its own paperwork. Trust claims are administrative. Settlements and verdicts come through a mesothelioma lawsuit. VA benefits run through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Workers' compensation exists as a separate path in limited situations, covered briefly below. None of these paths excludes the others, which is the single most useful fact on this page.
Numerous companies that made or sold asbestos products went through bankruptcy and were required to fund trusts for current and future victims. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported on the scale of funds set aside in these trusts (GAO-11-819). Trust claims are filed directly with each trust through an administrative process, not through a courtroom, and a single family often qualifies to file with several trusts at once. Each trust has its own eligibility criteria and evidence requirements, so qualifying is a matter of matching the work history against each trust's list of products and sites. How the system works is covered in our asbestos trust funds guide.
Companies that are still in business do not have trusts. Compensation from them comes through a lawsuit, most often through negotiated settlements resolved defendant by defendant. The factors that determine what a settlement is worth, and why average settlement figures published online are not reliable, are explained on our mesothelioma settlement amounts page.
A defendant who will not settle can be taken to a verdict. In our practice, most resolutions are negotiated, and the credible ability to try a case is what gives those negotiations their weight. Michael Schafle is counsel in the Philadelphia asbestos docket, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas program that has handled asbestos cases, and that docket is where much of this work happens for Pennsylvania families.
Veterans exposed to asbestos during service may qualify for VA disability benefits. VA benefits come from the government, while lawsuits and trust claims are made against the companies that made the products, so the two paths are separate tracks. Both are explained in our veterans and asbestos exposure guide.
Workers' compensation is a state system for workplace injuries with its own rules and trade-offs. In our mesothelioma cases the claims are made against the companies that made and sold the products rather than against employers, so for most families workers' comp is not the main path. Our workers' compensation page covers when it is worth a look.
Compensation in a mesothelioma case rarely arrives as one payment. Trust claims pay separately from settlements, and settlements pay defendant by defendant as each one resolves, so families receive a series of payments over the life of a case. Our asbestos claim payouts page explains the mechanics, including what a trust payment percentage is and why it matters to your total.
Yes. Pennsylvania allows wrongful death and survival actions when mesothelioma has taken a family member, and estates can file trust claims as well. Pennsylvania law places limits on how long a family has to bring these claims, generally running from diagnosis for a living patient and from the date of death for a wrongful death claim, so this deserves early attention either way. What happens to a pending case when a plaintiff dies, and who acts for the estate, is explained on our mesothelioma lawsuit after death page.
You do not have to choose one path, and you should not. A complete claim strategy usually files trust claims and a lawsuit together and, where it applies, adds a VA claim alongside them. The work of identifying every available source, and every trust your loved one's work history supports, belongs to the lawyer rather than to you. What you bring is the story of where they worked and what they worked with. The rest can be reconstructed from records, coworkers' accounts, and evidence accumulated over decades of asbestos litigation.
A free case review is the fastest way to learn which of these sources apply to your family.
This content originally appeared at https://mesolawyerpa.com/mesothelioma-lawsuit/