Mesothelioma Settlements

Mesothelioma settlements can sometimes come to over ten million dollars. Treatment can be expensive sometimes totaling around a million US dollars. The disease is mostly caused by exposure to asbestos, either directly or indirectly.

Mesothelioma litigation began in 1929. Over half a million asbestos claims have been filed, and many settlements made. Workers in the ship building and repairing industries have the highest mortality rate from Mesothelioma, and as such are the most likely to seek an asbestos settlement. The amounts received from mesothelioma claims can be considerable, so there are specialist asbestos lawyers and asbestos attorneys. Settlements tend to be highest in the USA, where the legal system awards large amounts of money. Other countries where mesothelioma is relatively common, such as UK and Australia also have asbestos claims, but the amounts awarded are usually smaller.

Asbestos was recognized as a health risk in about 1900 but asbestos and Mesothelioma has only been officially linked since the 1960’s. People living near natural occurrences of asbestos have an increased risk of getting mesothelioma. Some people only briefly exposed to small amounts of asbestos develop Mesothelioma while other people exposed to large amounts of asbestos over long periods do not get the disease at all. One study found incidence of Mesothelioma to be more than three hundred times as great in workers with asbestos insulation, compared to the general population.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer. The highest incidences of Mesothelioma are in Australia, Britain and Belgium but even in these countries (which have around twice the incidence compared to the USA where about two thousand new cases are diagnosed each year), incidence is still a thirtieth of that of lung cancer. Some sources state that the incidence of the disease has been decreasing since 1960, yet other sources state that it will increase until about 2016.

The jobs where one is typically exposed to asbestos include Boilermakers and Laggers, Electricians, Joiners, Carpenters and Builders, Motor Mechanics, Pipe Fitters and Plumbers, as well as other professions.

Mesothelioma settlements can include amounts for items other than the disease itself, including travel expenses, items bought due to the disease, and care whether paid for or not.

For more info, see Asbestos Settlement

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 6:30 am and is filed under Uncategorized, mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.