3 Major Mesothelioma Lawsuit Payouts
Mesothelioma lawsuit payouts do not ever right the wrong that has been done to you and other mesothelioma victims. One cannot and should not place a dollar amount on the value of a human life thinking that the money is an adequate substitute. That is not only impossible to do, it is morally bankrupt. However, mesothelioma lawsuit payouts do provide a means of achieving some justice for mesothelioma victims and their families, and usually is the best The Court system can do.
If you are contemplating filing a lawsuit as a mesothelioma victim, it is because you have received a medical diagnosis confirming that you have mesothelioma. That means an individual or a group of individuals knowingly chose to expose you to asbestos, the only known cause of mesothelioma. They knew of the possible lethal consequences of asbestos exposure but opted to gamble with your life because it was profitable for them to do so. Mesothelioma lawsuit payouts are intended to make sure the perpetrators do not get away with it.
Mesothelioma lawsuit payouts can accomplish:
- Penalizing those who knowingly harmed you
- Paying your medical expenses
- Providing your family with financial security and support in the future
Three Types of Mesothelioma Lawsuit Payouts
There are three types of mesothelioma lawsuit payouts. What type of payout you will receive may depend on the manner in which your lawsuit is able to move forward.
The three types of mesothelioma claims payouts are:
- Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts
- Settlements
- Verdicts
Basically, if some of the companies whose asbestos hurt you have harmed so many people that they have had to face a large number of lawsuits filed against them by other people with mesothelioma, they may have declared bankruptcy. Bankruptcy allows them to set up a bankruptcy trust from which everyone who they hurt can collect money. If some of the companies are still in business, and you know that the case you have against them is a solid one, they may opt to settle out of court with you. But if they are willing to take a chance that you do not have enough solid evidence for your case against them, they may want to fight the case in court. If our firm is handling your case, they would be taking a foolish chance because we do not take a case unless we believe we can win it. When the case is won in a trial, the mesothelioma lawsuit payout ends in a verdict, which becomes a judgement you can collect.
Mesothelioma Lawsuit Payouts From Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts
As we said above, mesothelioma payouts from asbestos bankruptcy trusts occur primarily because the company responsible has caused so many cases of mesothelioma that they fund a trust to protect their assets and limit the amount of money each mesothelioma victim can receive.
Because mesothelioma symptoms may not emerge for decades following the exposure to asbestos, asbestos trusts must protect the interests of mesothelioma victims who come forward later. It assures that there will be a legally approved fund of money to compensate each mesothelioma victim whom the company has harmed.
At present in the United States, funds have been set aside in 50 different trusts to compensate current and future victims of asbestos-related illnesses. These trust funds together contain approximately $32 billion available to asbestos victims.
Each mesothelioma lawsuit payout from a trust will be calculated based on the value of each case and the amount of money in that trust divided by the number of current cases and the predicted number or future cases. The average total Trust payout for a shipyard or construction worker who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma is around $260,000. Surprisingly, the amount received can vary. It takes a skilled attorney to ensure that a mesothelioma patient receives the largest amount possible within the parameters set by the trust.
Mesothelioma Lawsuit Payouts from Settlements
Mesothelioma lawsuit payouts from settling a case out of court offers major advantages over taking a case to trial; speed and certainty, Mesothelioma can be a swift-moving merciless illness. Accepting a settlement rather than going to trial can resolve matters more quickly. It is true that a settlement amount may be lower than one awarded by a jury, but you will receive compensation sooner. Trial verdicts often get appealed which even further prolongs the process. Negotiating a settlement can help get your money faster to help with medical bills and make up for lost income.
A settlement agreement may be negotiated at any point before or even during trial, but they mostly occur after both sides have exchanged documents through the discovery process. Negotiations may take several weeks or several months. At Kazan Law, our goal is to achieve settlements that allow our clients and their families to maintain their quality of life and achieve goals that may have been set aside by asbestos-related illness. In determining a good settlement, we take into account the emotional and financial stress caused by a family member’s mesothelioma; especially when a wage earner has to stop working due to illness.
While every case is unique, Kazan Law has negotiated some of the highest asbestos-related settlement payments for our clients. We keep our clients’ settlement amounts confidential, but we can tell you that we negotiated large settlements for a pilot who was exposed to asbestos in an airplane hangar and an electrical worker exposed to asbestos on the job at a PG&E power plant.
Mesothelioma Lawsuit Payouts: Verdicts
When a case proceeds to trial, Kazan Law works to schedule a trial as soon as possible for our clients. Unfortunately it can take months or sometimes years for your case to go before a jury. You will need to be at the trial if you are able to appear. You also may have to testify in court. If a jury agrees on a verdict in your favor, your mesothelioma lawsuit payout may not be immediate. Defendants often choose to appeal, drawing out the process. It is not uncommon, however, for parties to come to a settlement during or even after trial.
Trial outcomes are difficult to predict. Juries can decide in your favor but with an award lower than expected. Or a judge may reduce the mesothelioma lawsuit payout set by the jury. But juries are likely to be supportive of a mesothelioma victim and the mesothelioma lawsuit payout from a verdict may be higher than could have been achieved through settling out of court. This payout may include punitive damages added by the jury.
Kazan Law has won substantial verdicts for clients from companies in jury trials. We won over $20 million for a woman whose mesothelioma was traced to asbestos in the flooring of her childhood home. We won a $20,500,000 mesothelioma lawsuit payout for a former employee of a plant that produced pipes lined with asbestos. Over the course of the four decades we have represented asbestos victims, Kazan Law has won verdicts and settlements which represent hundreds of millions of dollars to our clients. Learn more about how we can help you and your family receive the compensation you deserve. Contact us for a free no obligation evaluation.