Mesothelioma & Asbestos Litigation Trials

 

Mesothelioma & Asbestos Litigation Trials

Most asbestos-related lawsuits never go to trial. Many cases are settled out of court long before a trial begins. And a number of others are settled during the trial process. Regardless, the job of your mesothelioma attorney is to prepare for a trial as soon as you decide to file a claim.

Attorneys will take into consideration how to build your case. As the case is being built, the attorney will form a plan about what kind of trial best suits the medical evidence and work history you are able to provide. If your case does end up in court, it will be important for you to know the steps of the trial process.

Steps in the Trial Process

If an asbestos-related case is deemed strong enough to go to trial, the following steps are generally followed:

1. Determining the Type of Trial

   There are two types of trials. The first type is held before a judge, in what is known as a bench trial. The second type of asbestos trial is held before a judge and jury. Your attorney will help you decide which option is better for you, and the decision depends on the facts and strength of your case.
   

2. Setting a Trial Date

   From start to finish, a lawsuit could take a couple of years or more depending on your case. Most of that time is spent filing various court documents and collecting evidence before the court schedules a mesothelioma trial.
   Parties involved in the lawsuit usually file several motions and memoranda to decide various legal issues before the case reaches the trial stage. If the motions are decided, discovery ends and there is no settlement, the parties work with the court to set a trial date. The number of cases on the court’s calendar ultimately determines the date of the trial.
   After the date is set, more court filings and one or more pre-trial meetings with the judge usually follow. Attorneys for both sides go over all of the exhibits, witnesses and legal issues they will present at trial.
   Based on all of this preparation, the judge will issue a pre-trial order that outlines how the trial will progress. If there are any emergencies or scheduling conflicts, the attorneys may request a continuance to delay the trial date. Courts have tight schedules, so continuances usually happen only in extreme circumstances like medical emergencies.
   

3. Settlement Negotiations

   After a trial date is set, if settlement negotiations have not already started they will likely begin soon. Your attorney will discuss any potential settlement offers with you. You can participate in any of the negotiations, but you are not required to attend. Do not feel pressured to settle your case early in the process if you do not feel you have received a fair offer. In some cases, a settlement agreement can be presented on the morning that the asbestos trial is set to start ‾ or even during the trial.
   
   See examples of past Mesothelioma Lawsuit Settlements

4. Jury Selection

   If a jury trial will take place, jurors will be chosen to decide the case. The court randomly calls citizens from a list of registered voters to serve as potential jurors. During a process called voir dire, the judge asks questions to determine whether potential jurors can serve objectively. Questions usually include whether the potential jurors know any of the parties or attorneys or have any personal knowledge about the case.
   Sometimes the attorneys also get to ask questions. Attorneys for both sides also have an opportunity to screen out potential jurors who may be biased against their client’s case. When the jury is selected, the jurors are sworn in and the parties begin presenting their cases.
   

5. Presentation of Evidence and Testimony

   If a jury trial will take place, jurors will be chosen to decide the case. The court randomly calls citizens from a list of registered voters to serve as potential jurors. During a process called voir dire, the judge asks questions to determine whether potential jurors can serve objectively. Questions usually include whether the potential jurors know any of the parties or attorneys or have any personal knowledge about the case.
   Sometimes the attorneys also get to ask questions. Attorneys for both sides also have an opportunity to screen out potential jurors who may be biased against their client’s case. When the jury is selected, the jurors are sworn in and the parties begin presenting their cases.
   From start to finish, the case process could take several months, including a few weeks for a mesothelioma trial. Your attorney will work to resolve your case as quickly as possible.
   If you are in poor health, you can petition the court for an expedited case process. If mesothelioma takes your life during the case, the case comes to a halt, and your family members will have an option to resubmit the claim as a wrongful death suit.
   With an experienced mesothelioma attorney, you can decide how much you wish to participate in the asbestos trial. An experienced attorney can handle the process and advise you on your options.
   

Additional Resources

Free VA Claims Assistance Get Help Now Qualify For Free Medical Care Get Help Now Get Help Paying for Treatment & More Learn More

Author

Tim Povtak

Tim Povtak is an award-winning writer with more than 30 years of reporting national and international news. His most recent experience is in researching and writing about asbestos litigation issues and asbestos-related conditions like mesothelioma. If you have a story idea for Tim, please email him at tpovtak@asbestos.com

 

Statute of Limitations

 

Statute of Limitations

Compensation for Mesothelioma Victims

Gain access to trust funds, grants and other forms of compensation for you or your loved ones.
Get Help Now

Asbestos litigation may be considered the" longest-running mass tort" in U.S. history, but asbestos cases generally aren't considered typical lawsuits. This is due, in part, to the long latency periods for asbestos-related diseases. Long latency periods complicate many aspects of asbestos litigation, including limits on the amount of time asbestos claimants have to file lawsuits.

These limits are known as statutes of limitations. The origins of statutes of limitations can be traced back to Roman law. But since asbestos litigation began in the late 1960s, special provisions have developed for timing asbestos personal injury claims.

What Are Statutes of Limitations?

As the name suggests, these laws limit the amount of time a claimant can wait to file a lawsuit. The statutes governing limitations periods vary by state. They also vary by the type of claim.
The type of claim is important for determining when the limitations period begins to run. With few exceptions, plaintiffs are barred from filing a claim if they wait too long after the statute of limitations begins to run.
So, for instance, under the law, a person filing a breach of contract claim would have a certain amount of time to file a lawsuit after a contract is broken. Similarly, the law gives a person filing a personal injury claim a certain amount of time to file a lawsuit after being injured.

Challenges of Applying Statutes of Limitations to Asbestos Claims

Applying the statute of limitations is straightforward in most cases. In personal injury cases, a claimant usually knows when the clock starts ticking on his claim because he usually knows when he was hit by a bus or otherwise injured. But that's usually not the case for asbestos personal injury claimants.
It's harder to pin down the time of injury for these claimants. That's because it can take at least 20 years after asbestos exposure to be diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease like asbestosis or mesothelioma. And unlike most injuries, such as getting hit by a vehicle, the conduct that causes asbestos personal injuries usually can't be traced to a single moment in time. Rather, it's usually traced back to a period of exposure to asbestos over time (e.g., a portion of work history).
Further complicating things for asbestos claimants is the reality that statutes of limitations don't run nearly as long as it takes to diagnose an asbestos-related disease. Statutes governing limitations periods for personal injuries range from roughly one to six years. It takes much longer than that for asbestos claimants to discover their injuries. If asbestos claimants were held to the same standard as most personal injury claimants (e.g., the clock begins to run at the time of injury), their claims would be barred before they even realized they were injured.
Fortunately, courts have made exceptions for asbestos claimants when it comes to applying limitations periods.

'Discovery' Rule for Asbestos Cases

Find An Attorney

Get help finding an attorney who knows the process and can get you and your family the compensation you deserve.
Get Help Now

Traditionally, the limitations clock begins to run when the plaintiff is injured. In 1973, the landmark asbestos case, Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Prods. Corp., addressed the difficulty of applying the traditional rule to asbestos claimants. Since then, courts have applied the "discovery" rule to asbestos cases.
The plaintiff in that case, Clarence Borel, was an industrial insulation worker who was exposed to asbestos for more than 33 years. Between 1936 and 1969, he was exposed to asbestos-laced insulation materials from multiple manufacturers. In March 1969, after being hospitalized and undergoing a lung biopsy, he was diagnosed with pulmonary asbestosis. Seven months later, Mr. Borel filed a lawsuit against certain manufacturers of the insulation materials he used at work. His condition continued to worsen, and he learned that he had mesothelioma while having his right lung removed in 1970.
The defendants argued that his claim was barred by Texas' two-year statute of limitations. Among other arguments, they claimed that Mr. Borel's cause of action began to accrue at the time of injury. According to them, his injury took place long before he filed his claim in 1969 because he had been exposed to asbestos dust since 1936.
Fortunately, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recognized the unfairness in applying the traditional rule to asbestos claimants like Mr. Borel. In doing so, the court noted a line of personal injury cases involving exposure to dangerous substances. Those cases held that a cause of action did not accrue (e.g., the clock did not begin to tick) until "the effects of such exposures manifest themselves."
The Fifth Circuit also noted the "discovery" rule applied in medical malpractice cases. Under that rule, "the cause of action does not accrue until the injury is discovered or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have been discovered." The Borel court decided that the rule was also appropriate for asbestos personal injury cases. As an Illinois court later explained it in an asbestos case against Johns-Manville: "the cause of action accrues when the plaintiff knows or reasonably should know of an injury and also knows or reasonably should know that the injury was caused by the wrongful acts of another."
Borel is usually considered important because it was the first legal case to hold manufacturers strictly liable for injuries resulting from asbestos exposure. But it's also notable that the court never would have reached that decision if the clock on Mr. Borel's claim had started running at the time of injury rather than the time he discovered his injury.
Today, courts across the country now apply the discovery rule when applying statutes of limitations to asbestos cases. Plaintiffs in these cases have a certain amount of time to file their claims after they knew or should have known of injuries . This is usually considered the time they were diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease. If you are diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, in most states you generally have 12 to 24 months after your diagnosis to file a personal injury lawsuit. If your loved one has died because of asbestos exposure, in most states you usually have 12 to 24 months after your loved one's death to file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Getting Assistance

If you have been injured by asbestos exposure, the length of the limitations period for your claim will depend on state law. Even if you have time to file a lawsuit, you should do so sooner rather than later. It is wise to talk directly with an attorney instead of guessing whether you still have time to file a claim. An experienced mesothelioma attorney can review your work history, trace where you were exposed to asbestos and weigh in on any options for compensation. As a mesothelioma case is prepared, the attorney may discover additional defendants. Filing the your case early gives the attorney a chance to amend the complaint and include additional defendants. Let us help you contact a qualified mesothelioma attorney as soon as possible to find out about the applicable statute of limitations for your case.

Additional Resources

Free VA Claims Assistance Get Help Now Qualify For Free Medical Care Get Help Now Get Help Paying for Treatment Learn More

Author

Tim Povtak

Tim Povtak is an award-winning writer with more than 30 years of reporting national and international news. His most recent experience is in researching and writing about asbestos litigation issues and asbestos-related conditions like mesothelioma. If you have a story idea for Tim, please email him at tpovtak@asbestos.com

Mesothelioma Lawsuit

Tim Povtak explains the benefits of seeking legal help for mesothelioma patients or their families.

If you have an asbestos-related disease, seriously consider contacting a qualified mesothelioma lawyer immediately. These types of cases are time sensitive, and only a lawyer trained in asbestos litigation should help you decide if and when to pursue a lawsuit against a company that may be responsible for exposing you to asbestos. The right attorney will also guide you through the process and explain what you can expect from filing the lawsuit.

Filing a Suit is Time-Sensitive

Each state limits the time you have to file a lawsuit after you are diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer. A mesothelioma lawyer can help you file your claim before the statute of limitations expires. You also may be able to pick from multiple states on where to file your lawsuit. Your attorney will evaluate your case and help you pick the state that may be most favorable for you.
Find a Mesothelioma Attorney

What to Expect When Filing

In a mesothelioma lawsuit, the attorney will deal with the actual filing of the case and then all related aspects. You should expect a routine that consists of the response to the lawsuit, discovery, depositions, settlement discussions, possible trial, verdict and possible appeal. Most mesothelioma lawsuits never go to trial because they are settled out of court before the trial takes place.
Have a Question? Chat Now

Mesothelioma Lawsuit Process

If you decide to file a lawsuit, your attorney will assist you through the process. While everyone's case is different, there are a number of steps that apply to nearly everyone who files an asbestos-related lawsuit. Your attorney will handle each of these steps and explain the process as it goes along. For the most part, mesothelioma lawsuits follow these steps:

1 of 7



• 

  Step 1 Preparation

  Your attorney will gather information about your asbestos exposure and illness to determine who is responsible for your condition and in which court to file your lawsuit. You may be eligible to file your lawsuit in more than one court.
  An asbestos and mesothelioma attorney will be able to use the information gathered earlier in the preparation stage to help you choose the most favorable court for your lawsuit.