When asbestos exposure leads to a diagnosis of mesothelioma or another asbestos-caused illness like lung cancer or asbestosis, securing financial support becomes urgent. For many individuals, asbestos trust funds can offer a source of meaningful compensation. These claims can be pursued independently or in conjunction with a civil lawsuit.

Understanding how these claims work and how to properly approach them can make all the difference. The mesothelioma attorneys at the O’Brien Law Firm have many decades of experience with these trust claims.

What Are Asbestos Trust Funds?

Asbestos trust funds are a creature of prevailing federal law. Despite lawyer advertisements on TV and the internet that may suggest to the contrary, these trusts were established largely for one reason and one reason only—to financially benefit the culpable companies that made, manufactured, sold, and/or used asbestos-containing products.

Before the asbestos bankruptcy trust system was established, asbestos companies had to face well-founded civil lawsuits brought by those dying of asbestos disease and their families. After some early victories in asbestos litigation (due largely to asbestos companies hiding damning documents showing prior knowledge of asbestos hazards), things did not go well for asbestos defendants. To help corporate America evade having to pay mesothelioma and other asbestos disease victims fair and full compensation, federal lawmakers created a system where these companies could pay nickels on every dollar owed to mesothelioma victims into individual trusts, all while being allowed to continue to operate free of the prospect of civil litigation.

Make no mistake—the trust system is a flawed, unfair system. Victims receive a fraction of the compensation they would otherwise be entitled to through the courts. But asbestos bankruptcy trusts are the law. And it’s our job to make the absolute best of it for our clients.

Filing a Trust Fund Claim vs. a Lawsuit

Asbestos trust fund claims and lawsuits are two separate legal paths that can be pursued simultaneously, depending largely on the state law that applies to a particular case.

Trust fund claims are made against companies that have filed for bankruptcy protection, meaning they must be pursued outside of court. While some of these claims can be resolved quicker than conventional civil tort claims, they offer considerably lower, fixed compensation amounts based upon pre-set criteria.

Civil lawsuits are filed against companies that have not filed for bankruptcy protection.  While they can take longer to resolve, lawsuits may result in higher compensation through verdicts or settlements.

An experienced asbestos attorney should evaluate your mesothelioma or asbestos claim as a whole at its outset, determining how best to secure the most compensation through both the civil and bankruptcy trust systems.

How to File an Asbestos Trust Fund Claim

The experienced asbestos attorneys at the O’Brien Law Firm will help you gather the documentation needed to meet the trust fund’s eligibility requirements.  We will also submit the claim on your behalf.

Step 1: Meet Trust Fund Criteria

Each asbestos trust fund sets its own criteria that potential claimants must meet to file a successful claim. While each trust (there are now more than 80 asbestos trust funds established under Federal Bankruptcy law) may vary, most trusts will require the following:

  • Medical proof of an asbestos disease
  • Evidentiary proof of exposure (such as deposition testimony, a sworn affidavit of exposure, or work records placing the asbestos claimant at an “approved job site”) to the asbestos product made by the company in question
  • Evidence that the applicable statute of limitations for a conventional tort claim has not expired

Step 2: Collect Evidence

Trust funds require specific documentation to support your claim. Without the help of skilled asbestos disease attorneys, most claimants would struggle to compile the evidence necessary to file successful claims on their own. For example:

  • Medical records and, in many cases, detailed expert reports establishing medical causation, must be submitted. Collecting and reviewing pertinent medical records can be a time-consuming and frustrating process, to say nothing of retaining medical experts to establish the link between a particular asbestos exposure and a cancer or lung ailment (i.e., a confirmed diagnosis of mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis)
  • Requisite proof of exposure to a single trust-specific asbestos product can be a challenge to collect and submit in the proper form. First, most trusts require that a civil lawsuit at least be put on file before a trust claim can even be submitted. Second, legally sufficient affidavits proving exposure are required, at a minimum. Then consider that most asbestos cases will involve trust claim applications to many individual trusts, depending on the facts of the case, of course.

Step 3: Submit Your Claim

After the necessary evidence has been gathered, your attorney submits the claim according to the trust’s specific protocols. Most trusts allow online submission through their websites, while others may require printed forms to be mailed.

The Evidence Review Process

Most trusts offer one of two review tracks—expedited or individual. The expedited review track is the track most often sought, due to the relative quickness of claim review and success rate concerns. While individual review presents the promise of higher payout, that promise takes considerably more time to chase, and unfortunately, does not often result in materially higher compensation.

Regardless of the review track chosen, each trust employs or retains trust administrators to review and process claims, which can number in the thousands per year for certain large trusts. Unfortunately, many trust administrators (many of whom are lawyers who make or made their living defending asbestos companies in civil court) consider it their sworn duty to protect the “corpus” (the money available to asbestos victims) of the trust. This can translate into a misguided and overzealous scrutiny of claim submissions, which then further translates into claim “deficiencies” being declared, many of which are groundless.  When trust claims compile deficiencies, the claims are, in effect, frozen at best, or returned to the end of the line at worst, until the perceived problems with the claim are cured.

All of this creates a frustrating, time-consuming process, even for lawyers well steeped in asbestos trust claim processes. Experienced asbestos attorneys must be willing to fight through the red tape on behalf of their deserving clients.

Start Your Claim With Confidence

While the claims process was intended to be more streamlined than litigation, it’s still a highly technical one. Each trust has different documentation requirements, and missing details can delay or reduce compensation.

The attorneys at the O’Brien Law Firm have decades of experience handling both trust fund claims and lawsuits. We handle every step of the process, ensuring all documentation is in place and no opportunity for compensation is overlooked.

When you’re ready, schedule a free consultation and get the trusted guidance you need.