Mesothelioma Attorney

Determining the Value of Your Case

Estimating how much your case is worth can be a complex process. You may want to find an expert who can explain all the details of your case. An experienced mesothelioma attorney knows how to get your case to the finish line without placing too much strain on you or your family.

You should also consider choosing someone close to you who can document your battle with mesothelioma. This person will collect any relevant medical files and correspondence and pass that information to your attorney.

Two things your attorney will need to know immediately are the stage of your cancer and your prognosis. Work history is another integral part of the case value. In order to pursue a legal claim, your attorney must determine where the asbestos exposure occurred and whose asbestos-containing products were involved.

Case Valuation Matrix

Many lawsuits are settled before trial and paid out of a trust fund set aside to handle the financial load of future cases. To do that, the managers of these funds rely on something called a case valuation matrix. The matrix is a legal document that assigns base dollar figures to cancer types and then recalculates that base amount with additional information.

For example, the matrix will assign one baseline dollar amount for mesothelioma, one for lung cancer and so on. Those dollar amounts can vary by state or region because exposure levels are set by location. The baseline dollar figure can be as low as several thousand dollars or as high as several hundred thousand dollars.

Once the baseline is established, some specifics of your case will kick in and increase or decrease your level of compensation.

Other factors that affect the value of your case may include:

• Your location, age, gender and work history
• A history of military service
• Physical and mental distress (also known as “pain and suffering”)
• Where the asbestos exposure occurred
• Which asbestos products were involved

Expenses related to your illness may also come into play, such as:

• Medical expenses, including those not covered by health insurance
• Travel costs for medical treatments
• Lost wages
• The cost of continued medical care
• Your ability to support dependents
• Funeral expenses

These variables make it difficult to predict a case’s value before you file a claim. However, an attorney can review information about your case and provide a range of expected values. This estimate can assist you in deciding whether to pursue a claim.