What is Mesothelioma Settlements?

Have you been diagnosed of mesothelioma and desperately in need of financial support, then you will find this article. Mesothelioma, settlement being the direct result of gross negligence of a number of corporations who knew of the dangers of asbestos, but chose to proceed nonetheless without doing anything to protect their employees. Despite the fact there may be an ethical argument for considering such negligence criminal act, the law in that virtually all industrialized nations like the USA, consider death and injury from asbestos as a personal injury matter (legally refers to as tort) thus making it a matter for civil courts where monetary compensation for medical expenses, lost of income, pain and suffering are remedies can be demanded under the law. Therefore, the agreement that usually arises from the two feuding parties on the issue of mesothelioma is called settlement.

The word settlement means that the parties have settled out of court, either prior to commencement of court proceedings during the trial at some point prior to the judges’ judgment ruling or any time thereafter. The offer of a settlement or the willingness to accept a settlement is often more of a question of power than justice, as the parties to a lawsuit may agree to settle out of court for a number of reasons among which are that the defendant may wish to avoid negative publicity or due to lack of willingness to go on with the expenses of a prolonged lawsuit. However, mesothelioma settlement is only possible thus if the plaintiff’s lawyer advised his client to accept a settlement. Mesothelioma settlement is simply to avoid time wastage, unnecessary expenses, physical and psychological strain which a lengthy legal proceeding can bring on the two parties.

On the other hand, if the defendant offers to settle when the plaintiff’s case is going well this may mean that the defense anticipates that he may lose the case and if this kind of situation comes up, the victim’s attorney may advice his/her client not to accept the offer for settlement and make an attempt to negotiate the highest settlement possible for the plaintiff. In a situation like this, the lawyer can only advise his client on what to do the plaintiff can then act in accordance with the client’s wishes, regardless of what the best course of action may be. If there is no agreement between the lawyer and his client on settlement plan, the lawyer may withdraw as counsel. Once settlement is reached however and the plaintiff has accepts the settlement plan negotiated, it constitutes a contract between the victim and the defendant. This means the plaintiff has agreed not to continue or pursue legal action against the defendant and when settlement has been paid, both parties to the case will file a notice with the court that the case should be discontinued and dismissed. The settlement reached by the parties involved may however carry some restrictions, as most corporations value their public image and will not want the amount paid as settlement revealed to the public. Just to defend themselves against other victims who may want to press charges based on the settlement of the present case, the defendant may also stipulate in their settlement notice to the court that such an agreement and settlement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing against the claimant and refrain the plaintiff from discussing the case in the public.

How Much Can You Get As Settlement?

Though it is impossible to predict the value of a case since all the facts may not be made public, moreso trial and juries are not all the same and juries can react very differently to the evidence provided by the two parties in feud. One of the difficulties that used to arise therefore during negotiation for settlement is that while medical costs and loss of income are more or less easy to determine, this is not so with non-economic damages like pain and suffering. Moreover, such damages do vary widely from one case to another. Settlement provisions however can be bargain for and proper amount can be reached by the parties involved out of court. Mesothelioma settlement has become a thing of worry to parents of asbestos corporations and their insurers, and as damages awards run into astronomical sums over the past two decades.

The first successful legal proceedings in a mesothelioma case in the USA was that of Clarence Borel vs. Fiberboard Paper Products Corporation and others which was filed in 1969 and ended in 1973 with a posthumous award to the plaintiff estate. In recent years many settlements have also been reached and one of the notable ones is the 2005 case involving a retired 82 year old machinist who became a victim of mesothelioma as result of his exposure to asbestos fibres in his workplace 60 years earlier. The machinist received an award in a California lawsuit when the court in its judgment found the corporate defendant guilty of malice, fraud and suppression of evidence. Another encouraging one is that of Charles Cochran’s, a US citizen who was a former shipyard worker.

His exposure to asbestos was established and was awarded about ₤150,000 as compensation through the legal support of Thomson Solicitors, one of the experienced mesothelioma law firms in the US. The former shipyard worker was settled within four months of filing his case by his legal counsel. According to his attorney’s submission, Charles began his working career as a 16 year old, apprentice boy at Walker Naval Yard. He had repeated exposure to asbestos used by shipyard contractors and being a minor he never did anything to protect himself from the harmful effects of asbestos dust neither was he ever warned that exposure to the substance was dangerous.

Unfortunately, not all settlement claims have been successful as that of a 76 year old man showed. The old man brought action in 2004 against a company in a California. He claimed that his mesothelioma was due to asbestos exposure back in the mid 1950s. The defense counsel for Asbestos Corporation Ltd did a better legal job for the company by countering the claimant’s allegations by convincing the jury that the man’s problem was actually lung cancer brought about by his history of cigarette smoking. Though asbestos is the sole cause of mesothelioma, the defendant counsel admitted but tobacco use, he argued has also long been associated with lung cancer. The jury found the submission of the defendant admissible and the plaintiff receives no compensation. You can see why you need an experienced mesothelioma lawyer to handle your case.

Losing the case does not however mean that the man case was not genuine or lacks legal merit in it but it is most likely that the plaintiff had not gotten his diagnosis from a qualified mesothelioma cancer medical expert. It is therefore important to say here that one of the keys to winning a mesothelioma case convincingly apart from employing the services of an experienced mesothelioma attorney, is to have a good diagnosis as well as expert testimony from cancer specialists during the court proceedings. Nothing should be left to chance, as proving the cause in a personal injury suit is at the heart of your claim and the more sound the evidence and water tight your testimony the stronger your submission thus giving you a better possibility of wining your case in court.