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Sunday, September 12, 2010

6 Things Every Mesothelioma Victims Must Do To Get A Good Compensation Claim

Do you want to know how you can get a good mesothelioma compensation claim? Are you seeking information on mesothelioma legal advice and explanations on medical questions you might have. What you really need is a specialist lawyer who specializes on occupational disease litigation and who will be able to take you through more specific questions and advice on making a mesothelioma claim. Specialist asbestos lawyers have experience of these claims as well as other asbestos related claims and the lawyer will be able to spend quality time helping you get to the root of your mesothelioma or asbestosis health problem.

As you must have known by now that, brief introduction, mesothelioma cancer is the cancer of the lung or abdomen caused by earlier exposure to asbestos some years before say 14–50 years. Mesothelioma is caused by any dose of asbestos big or small but all the same, an idea of when you had contact with asbestos fibres is a good start in putting up a good legal battle. Even if you cannot remember where and when this contact takes placed, it is still important for you to seek legal advice straight away if you have been diagnosed for mesothelioma, it is pertinent for you to reach out to specialist lawyers who normally will come out to see you wherever you are. 

By taking mesothelioma legal advice as soon as you are diagnosed of mesothelioma you will be increasing your chances of securing a good compensation. This is because compensation is only paid when the blame for your disease is fought within two years of diagnosis. Your mesothelioma lawyer through discussion with you will gather information and provide advice. The discussion with your lawyers will cover your whole work history, how you had contact with asbestos, the symptoms you have noticed and treatment you are taking. This information is important as it is the basis of your mesothelioma claim on your past employers.

When the lawyers come around they will discuss with you the time when you became exposed to asbestos. They will also discuss other relevant issues. This is necessary because when it is time to make a claim, the attorney will be able to handle any aspect of your claim and will be able to guide you through not just the compensation process but through others like claiming benefits. The mesothelioma legal battle specialist will explain to you the special rules which apply to these compensation claims that may be of help to you. Do not worry about whether you remember all your employers over the years as your lawyer can help you obtain a list of them from the Inland Revenue. Moreso, compensation is claimed can be obtained from the insurers of the company or companies who are at fault for allowing you to come into such exposure with asbestos. Often these culprit companies ceased to exist a long time ago but compensation usually come from the insurers who had insured these company then and most mesothelioma law firms have their own database to help trace those insurers as well as contacts that will help to find them.

Furthermore, your mesothelioma legal counsel will also discuss the funding of your claim and as said before often this is done by way of a conditional fee agreement often called no win no fee. This no win no fee agreement immunes you from paying any costs out of your pocket at any stage of the legal battle or from paying out of your compensation as cost are dealt with separately at the end of the claim.

What Can A Mesothelioma Victim Claim Compensation for
Compensation awarded to victims of mesothelioma usually represents different elements in the daily up keeping of the sufferer and his family members and some of the include:
The illness itself
Loss of income or revenue
Items purchase regularly by the plaintiff as a result of the disease such as food, mobility aid, and dependent up-keeping
Losses to other family member
Traveling expenses to hospital during medical appointments and others

Following this, your lawyer will then prepare your statement and apply for your medical records as well as working on locating the parties to be blamed for your health problem and their insurers. To prepare a legal medical document as soon as it is possible, your legal counsel will contact an independent chest physician or consultant to prepare a medical report which is needed for your legal claim documents. Furthermore, the lawyer will also help you fill and file your benefit application forms. After filing the benefit application forms, the lawyer will send the application to the appropriate office and ensure that you hear from them within a reasonable time frame. At this time also the law firm will contact the insurers of the companies responsible for the mesothelioma problem by putting his/her client’s claim profile across to them and ask them if they are willing to pay compensation or not.

After contacting the insurers and a medical report is obtained with enough information gathered to press for claims, the lawyer will issue a court proceeding by sending the formal court documents detailing your claim, to the court and the defendants. To this, the defendants have a set period of time to give their legal response by sending their defense to the court. In the defense, the defendants will state what parts of the claim are admitted or denied with reasons given for the claims that are denied.

With this defendants position, the victim’s your lawyer will narrow down the extent of what needs to be proven by them in your claim. On the other hand, after the court receives the defense position on the mesothelioma claims the court will start to administer the procedure of the court on the case by sending a timetable for the evidence and other details on the list of losses and expenses will be cross examined as well as confirming when the final hearing or trial will begin. To speed up the court proceedings on the matter, there are laid down rules on how a court should handles mesothelioma claim, hence each case is considered separately by the court and your lawyers must report back to you what will happen in the next court appearance on the case.

However, one important factor which must not be overlooked here is the possibility of reaching a settlement before the commencement of court proceedings. Therefore, once your attorney has issued court proceedings, most cases are settled without the need to go to the final hearing. This means that the chances of you having to even go to court may not be needed. Normally your lawyer should begin negotiations before the issue of court proceeding by putting settlement offers to the defendants. The normal practice in the industry is that, in most mesothelioma legal battles, negotiation and compromise are easily reached after legal proceedings have been filed in a law court.

In other words, the possibility of having to go to court remains small but when dealing with a stubborn insurance company however, this may not be so.  Court action is therefore necessary to put pressure on the defendants to force a settlement to speed up the process of the mesothelioma claim. Based on the above factor, the defendants is then in a position to make offers to settle your claim at any time before or after the issue of court proceedings. Whatever offer the defense is coming up with will then be carefully considered with you by your lawyer and when an agreement is reached the case will be closed.

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