How Long After I Am Diagnosed Can I File a Lawsuit?

Once you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you should find an experienced mesothelioma attorney as soon as possible to discuss your potential case. The sooner you engage a lawyer, the more opportunity you provide for thorough investigation and identification of liable parties and compensation sources.

Immediate case evaluation

Experienced law firms that have handled thousands of asbestos cases have research, case studies, and asbestos information at their fingertips to quickly evaluate potential cases.

The information you provide about your mesothelioma diagnosis and past asbestos exposure allows an attorney to evaluate the prospects of a mesothelioma lawsuit. Whether a lawsuit is viable depends on various factors:

• The liable parties assets
• Strength of evidence. The evidence must support the recovery being demanded by proving the existence of damages and showing that the defendant is liable.
• Multiple sources of compensation. In certain cases, one liable party may not be the only source of compensation. However, there may be other liable parties that make pursuing the case worthwhile. Suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of asbestos-containing products as well as landowners whose property contains asbestos material are often sources of compensation in mesothelioma lawsuits.

Statutes of limitations

The statute of limitations is the deadline for filing a lawsuit. The statute of limitations for asbestos cases begins to run at the date of the diagnosis. Mesothelioma victims generally are not aware they have the disease because the symptoms do not become apparent until the later stages of the disease.

As a result, laws took latency into account and determined that the statute of limitations for mesothelioma cases would begin to run from the date of diagnosis.