Mesothelioma Wrongful Death Lawsuit Guide

Learn About Legal Options and Settlements in Wrongful Death Mesothelioma Lawsuits

A mesothelioma wrongful death lawsuit can provide surviving family members with the funds they need to recover after losing a loved one. The goal of filing a wrongful death claim is to claim compensation from the responsible agency’s insurance company. 

Our mesothelioma attorneys can assist you with all aspects of wrongful death settlements, including negotiating with the liable parties and demanding fair compensation. Contact our asbestos attorneys for a free consultation about your mesothelioma wrongful death claim. 

What is Mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that affects the mesothelium, a specialized type of tissue that surrounds most internal organs. The mesothelium produces serous fluid, which fills the spaces between organs and allows them to move without friction. With mesothelioma, this specialized tissue grows uncontrollably, causing tumors that can wrap around internal organs. 

Unlike some other cancers, mesothelioma grows very slowly and often is not identified until 15 to 40 years after initial exposure. 

Types of Mesothelioma 

While mesothelioma can develop anywhere that has mesothelial tissue, it is typically categorized into four types. 

Pleural Mesothelioma: This type affects the lining around the lungs and is the most common, as most mesothelioma cases are caused by inhaling asbestos. It is also the most aggressive and has the highest mortality rate. The 10-year survival rate for pleural mesothelioma is just 5%. Symptoms include trouble breathing, weight loss, chest pain, and coughing. 

Peritoneal Mesothelioma: The peritoneum is the smooth lining that surrounds the internal organs. This is the second most common type of mesothelioma and has a 10-year survival rate of 39%. Symptoms include belly pain, swelling, fatigue, nausea, and unintended weight loss.

Pericardial Mesothelioma: Pericardial mesothelioma grows in the lining around the heart. This is a rarer form that can cause trouble breathing and chest pain.

Paratesticular Mesothelioma: The rarest type of mesothelioma, this subtype accounts for only 0.3% to 1.4% of all cases. It affects the testicles and is typically seen later in life, usually around the age of 60. Due to its rarity, not much is known about paratesticular mesothelioma or its survival rates. 

The Primary Cause of Mesothelioma

The primary cause of mesothelioma is asbestos exposure. This naturally occurring mineral fiber is composed of tiny filaments and is often found in conjunction with vermiculite, which is commonly used in insulation. 

Asbestos has been used since Roman times because it is light, fire-resistant, and waterproof. Even back in this era, people noted that those who worked in asbestos mines were more likely to die young. During the 20th century, asbestos was primarily used as insulation. 

The long, thin fibers are usually invisible to the naked eye. They do not dissolve in water, are fire-resistant, and cannot be easily broken down by chemicals. Because asbestos is so light, it floats in the air and is breathed in by anyone in the vicinity. Once in the body, the fibers are not broken down or absorbed.

Research has proven that asbestos is carcinogenic. Those who breathe in longer fibers are more likely to develop cancer because the fibers cannot be broken down.  

Common Industries and Occupations Linked to Asbestos Exposure

Because asbestos is a good insulator, it has been used in numerous industries throughout history. Some of the most common sectors linked to asbestos claims include:

• Asbestos manufacturers
• Automotive repair
• Construction
• Maritime industries, including shipbuilding and repair
• Pipe fitting and boiler repair
• Steel manufacturers
• Tile insulation
• Mining, oil refineries, and power plants
• Offshore rust removal businesses
• Railroads

Family members of workers are also at risk of secondhand asbestos exposure because the fibers can persist on a person’s clothes or skin. In one instance, a mesothelioma victim had been exposed to asbestos on her husband’s clothes for years, resulting in her dying just three weeks after being diagnosed. 

Worldwide, it’s estimated that 125 million people have been exposed to asbestos at work, and it’s not clear how many have been exposed due to a loved one’s occupation. Between 1999 and 2020, there were over 54,000 mesothelioma deaths in the United States. However, because mesothelioma can take decades to develop, and asbestos was only fully banned in 2024, asbestos litigation will likely continue for years. 

Examples of Mesothelioma Wrongful Death Lawsuits

Our mesothelioma lawyers have a proven track record of success in asbestos wrongful death lawsuits, as well as similar litigation. Some of our settlements include the following.

• $3,750,000 wrongful death settlement for family members of a Navy worker
• $2,220,000 asbestos claim for family members of a worker exposed during a factory expansion project
• $1,800,000 asbestos trust fund claim for a maintenance worker cleaning asbestos-contaminated floors
• $1,495,000 mesothelioma settlement for a laborer with an asbestos exposure history
• $450,00 secondary mesothelioma settlement for the wife of a military contractor

Who Can File a Mesothelioma Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Illinois?

When a person dies from asbestos-related diseases, only the estate representative has the right to file wrongful death claims under Illinois law (740 ILCS §180/2). An experienced mesothelioma lawyer from our team can guide you through the process, ensuring that all the appropriate paperwork is filed. 

Determining Beneficiaries in a Wrongful Death Claim

For a mesothelioma lawsuit, surviving family members may each receive some compensation. The primary beneficiaries are the spouse if the person was married, surviving children, and parents.

The Importance of Identifying All Potential Beneficiaries

It’s crucial to identify everyone who may have a legal claim to mesothelioma compensation. Otherwise, your family may have to deal with additional litigation from others who did not receive their fair share.

When you work with an experienced attorney from our firm to file a mesothelioma lawsuit, we will identify all beneficiaries and communicate with them on your behalf. 

Liability in a Mesothelioma Wrongful Death Case

You can file a mesothelioma lawsuit against any entity that may have been liable for your loved one’s death. This liability is defined by the legal concept of negligence, which has four elements.

Duty of Care: The liable party had a responsibility to prevent harm to you or your family member. This could include providing personal protective equipment to potentially exposed workers, educating employees about asbestos, or failing to remediate asbestos within a building. 

Breach of Duty: This party failed to uphold its duty of care, such as by refusing to complete asbestos mitigation, failing to protect workers from asbestos, or not discussing mesothelioma risk with workers.

Causation: Your loved one’s mesothelioma diagnosis came from exposure to asbestos in the course of their employment, by using asbestos-tainted products, or by being exposed secondhand from a loved one.

Damages: You suffered financial or emotional losses from the mesothelioma death, such as lost wages, funeral costs, medical bills, or grief. 

Negligence: Failing to Protect Workers and Consumers from Asbestos

Research into the dangers of asbestos began in the 1890s, and people knew that asbestos exposure could cause lung cancer by the 1940s. Despite this, companies continued to manufacture and sell asbestos products. As such, companies can be liable in a mesothelioma wrongful death lawsuit. 

The Illinois Supreme Court case Simpkins v. CSX Corp. affirmed that this liability stands when a mesothelioma patient dies due to secondhand exposure, such as living with an affected worker.

Product Liability: Manufacturers of Asbestos-Containing Products

An experienced mesothelioma attorney can file a product liability suit against manufacturers and distributors. This hinges upon the idea that manufacturers have a duty to warn consumers about the risks of using their products and to mitigate potential danger. 

Premises Liability: Property Owners’ Responsibility

Premises liability holds property owners accountable for hazardous conditions on their premises, including their homes, factories, or offices. According to the Illinois Environmental Contractors Association, proprietors have a legal obligation to test for asbestos and mitigate risks to those who visit their premises.

However, the Illinois Premises Liability Act clarifies that property owners are only responsible if they are aware of the danger that building conditions may pose and that may arise from responsible use of the property (740 ILCS §130/2). 

Your mesothelioma lawyer must demonstrate that you were lawfully on the property, the property owner knew about asbestos insulation, and the owner failed to mitigate the risks. 

The Illinois Wrongful Death Act

The Illinois wrongful death statutes outline who can file a wrongful death lawsuit, what types of suits are not allowed, and what types of damages that surviving family members can receive from wrongful death settlements. Certain provisions are critical to understanding mesothelioma litigation, particularly the discovery rule. 

Key Provisions of the Illinois Wrongful Death Act

The Wrongful Death Act states that whenever a person dies in a manner that would have entitled them to a personal injury claim if they had survived, their family members can make a wrongful death claim (740 ILCS §180/1). 

However, the statutes do not contradict the Tort Immunity Act, which protects government agencies and civil servants from wrongful death lawsuits (740 ILCS §180/1). This means that if your loved one suffered asbestos exposure in a public building or government agency, it may be more challenging to file a mesothelioma wrongful death claim.

The money from a mesothelioma wrongful death settlement is for the benefit of the surviving spouse or other next of kin (740 ILCS §180/2). If your wrongful death lawsuit goes to trial, the jury is entitled to award any sum that they believe is just, including punitive damages (740 ILCS §180/2). 

Statute of Limitations for Wrongful Death Claims in Illinois

A mesothelioma lawsuit after death has the same statute of limitations as any other personal injury lawsuit, which is two years from the date of the injury or discovery of the injury (740 ILCS §180/2).

However, this can be more challenging for mesothelioma lawsuits because the illness may not be discovered for decades after asbestos exposure. As such, you need an experienced mesothelioma attorney who can help demonstrate that you were not aware of the risk before your loved one was diagnosed. 

“Discovery Rule” and Its Potential Application in Mesothelioma Cases

The discovery rule allows for an extended statute of limitations if the illness or injury is not immediately discovered. This allows injured workers to file asbestos claims even years after exposure if they did not develop symptoms until much later. 

Our mesothelioma attorneys will use the evidence you provide to demonstrate that your loved one was not aware of their exposure or the potential risks until being diagnosed with the disease. 

Steps to Take When Pursuing a Mesothelioma Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Our team will guide you through every step of an asbestos lawsuit, ensuring you have the best possible chance of receiving a fair settlement. The wrongful death lawsuit process includes the following steps. 

Consult with an Experienced Mesothelioma Wrongful Death Attorney

Mesothelioma wrongful death lawsuits can be challenging because there is often a long time between initial exposure and disease onset. As such, you need an experienced attorney who has worked on other mesothelioma claims.

When you consult with us, we will learn more details about your loved one’s passing, including when they may have been exposed. This allows our wrongful death lawyers to identify potentially liable parties and focus on research. 

Gathering Evidence: Medical Records, Employment History, Witness Testimony

For a mesothelioma wrongful death claim, you must demonstrate a connection between previous asbestos exposure and your family member’s death. Our attorneys will take the information you provide and begin gathering evidence, which can include the following.

Medical History: Because mesothelioma claims often come years after exposure, we may need to review years of medical history. This helps prevent the liable parties from claiming that the mesothelioma patient had prior exposure or that their disease resulted from another cause.

Employment History: In a mesothelioma wrongful death claim, our attorneys must identify where the person was exposed, which involves reviewing their previous jobs. We’ll then research whether the building contained asbestos or whether your loved one was directly exposed to the material, such as at a shipyard.

Company History: We must demonstrate that the companies responsible for your loved one’s death were aware of the potential risks and failed to take appropriate action. This is simpler for certain businesses, such as asbestos companies or those that directly use asbestos in manufacturing processes. To demonstrate this, our mesothelioma attorneys will review internal communications, work records, materials requisitions, and building inspections. 

Previous Mesothelioma Cases: With a mesothelioma lawsuit after death, we can review whether others have filed a wrongful death claim due to asbestos exposure. This will provide precedent for your claim and prove that others were also exposed.

Witness Testimony: Other employees or injured parties can be a vital resource in your mesothelioma wrongful death claim. They can attest to whether the asbestos company was aware of the danger, if your loved one was working with asbestos, and what health concerns others have experienced. 

Identifying Potentially Liable Parties

We will investigate all potentially liable parties in a wrongful death lawsuit. Some of these can include the following.

Asbestos Companies: Manufacturers have known for years that asbestos is incredibly dangerous, but they continued to produce asbestos-laden products even after research into its risks. 

Other Companies Responsible for Asbestos Exposure: You can file a mesothelioma wrongful death lawsuit against companies that used asbestos in their manufacturing process despite recognizing the potential danger. Common defendants include shipyards, railroad companies, boilermakers, factories, and automotive repair or manufacturing companies.

Consumer Product Distributors: Some mesothelioma patients were exposed by purchasing and using products with asbestos. If our lawyers can demonstrate that distributors were aware of the danger but continued to sell the products, or failed to recall them after the risks were known, then we can file a mesothelioma lawsuit against the company.

Property Owners: Under premises liability laws, property owners who are aware of an asbestos risk but fail to warn people can be liable in a wrongful death case. 

Remediation Companies: The Chicago Municipal Code outlines specific precautions that must be taken for any building known to contain asbestos or suspected of containing it. These include completing an environmental safety inspection, safely disposing of any contaminated material, warning people about the asbestos abatement, and providing personal protective equipment (11-4-2150 – 11-4-2190). You can file a mesothelioma lawsuit against a company that does not take these precautions.

Filing the Wrongful Death Complaint in the Appropriate Court

In most cases, the estate representative of the deceased must file a mesothelioma wrongful death claim in the Circuit Court of Cook County. However, if the defendant is from a different state, you may have to file in district court instead. 

Serving the Complaint on the Defendants

The service of process is a key element of filing a wrongful death case. This formally notifies the defendants that you are suing them and tells them the jurisdiction of the asbestos claim. Our attorneys will draft the service of process, file it with the correct court, and ensure that the defendant is provided with a certified copy. 

The Litigation Process: What to Expect

Your mesothelioma lawyer will help you with every step of your asbestos claim, which includes exchanging information, filing motions, negotiating, and going to trial if necessary. 

Exchanging Information and Building the Case

The discovery process involves sharing information with the other parties in the lawsuit so that all parties have access to the same documents. This is crucial to ensuring that everyone can make their arguments based on all available evidence.

Discovery includes these key elements.

• Depositions: Key witnesses will be interviewed under oath outside of the courtroom. A court reporter records these interviews, and attorneys from both sides are allowed to ask questions.
• Interrogatories: These are similar to depositions, but they are written instead of spoken. One party will send a list of written questions to the other party, which will be answered. The interrogatory will then be admitted as evidence in the trial. Interrogatories can only be sent to parties in the lawsuit, not other witnesses.
• Document Requests: Our attorneys will request key information from other parties, such as employment records, medical records, and business communications, which will then be shared with every party.

Motions and Court Hearings

Motions are formal requests to the presiding judge that request a specific action. For example, we may file a motion for more time in discovery or to dismiss a trial that has been settled out of court.

Court hearings are meetings held before a judge to resolve issues in a trial or to determine whether the case should proceed to trial. The judge will listen to both sides and make rulings. Hearings can include a preliminary hearing, which determines whether to proceed with a case, and motion hearings, which address any motions that have been filed. Finally, there is a trial hearing, which is when both sides share their arguments. 

Expert Witnesses

Expert witnesses are crucial in mesothelioma claims due to the unique aspects of these cases. As most involve a long time period between exposure and illness onset, our attorneys will consult with medical experts about how exposure occurs and how the disease progresses. This can provide a firm link between the defendant’s actions and the deceased’s passing. 

Negotiating a Settlement

Before going to trial, we will work to negotiate a mesothelioma settlement with liable parties. In some cases, this may come from an asbestos trust fund that companies set up to handle claims like yours. We will submit a demand letter, which explains the compensation we expect, and the other party will submit a counteroffer. This process will continue until both parties are satisfied or until we choose to pursue a lawsuit. 

Going to Trial

Many mesothelioma claims are settled out of court, but sometimes it is necessary to go to trial. In this instance, the presiding judge will set a trial date, and our attorneys will present evidence at the trial hearings. This will include interviewing witnesses, presenting evidence to the court, and making compelling arguments to justify your claim for compensation.

The parties may choose between a bench trial, where the judge decides the verdict, and a jury trial, where a jury makes the decision instead. If the judge or jury rules in the defendant’s favor, you will not be entitled to any compensation. 

Damages in a Mesothelioma Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Average mesothelioma settlements can be much higher than for other personal injury claims. Some estimates place this at between $1 million and $2 million. However, every settlement varies, and you may receive more or less than this. 

You may be entitled to a variety of damages, which can include:

• Medical bills before the mesothelioma patient’s death
• Lost wages or loss of financial support
• Burial and funeral costs
• Loss of companionship
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Grief

What are Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts?

Explain how these trusts were established by bankrupt asbestos companies

Formerly viable asbestos companies responsible for the mesothelioma epidemic have now gone out of business. However, you can still make asbestos trust fund claims against the company’s funds, which were established to settle mesothelioma claims. The average settlement from an asbestos trust is estimated to be between $300,000 and $400,000, though this can vary significantly.

Consult a Wrongful Death Attorney Near You!

Our attorneys have a 98% success rate, earning over $450 million for our clients. We will guide you through every step of filing a mesothelioma wrongful death claim, giving you the best chance at maximum compensation. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning that you owe us nothing unless we earn you a settlement.To schedule a free consultation with our Chicago personal injury attorneys, call us at (888) 424-5757 or use our online contact form.

All content undergoes thorough legal review by experienced attorneys, including Jonathan Rosenfeld. With 25 years of experience in personal injury law and over 100 years of combined legal expertise within our team, we ensure that every article is legally accurate, compliant, and reflects current legal standards.