MESOTHELIOMA

Family members of workers from any industry that were routinely exposed to as asbestos, asbestos fibers or fine-grained asbestos dust during their employment who subsequently died of mesothelioma may also be able to file a wrongful death claim regardless of which state they currently live in.

When a person dies as the direct result of another's carelessness, malpractice, failure to correct a situation that should have been foreseen as being dangerous to others, or withheld the true nature of a potentially serious danger, the family members of the deceased may be able to file a wrongful death claim.

As a general rule, in the State of West Virginia, any member of a mesothelioma victim's immediate family (parents, spouses, and children) may begin legal action related to a wrongful death claim. Under that state's wrongful death law, such claims must be filed within two years of the date of death. In some cases a West Virginia wrongful death claim can also be made even though the deceased had received compensation resulting from a previous legal action such as a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of a larger group unless the previous settlement specifically barred further claims involving the same victim.

Previous court cases in West Virginia and in other states have established that since mesothelioma is very a rare cancer that has been found to be much more common in those that were repeatedly exposed to asbestos as part of their employment, then such repeated exposures are considered to have been the cause of a mesothelioma that is discovered later. These other cases have also established that a mesothelioma victim need not have been directly exposed to asbestos and that indirect exposure, such as washing work clothes or playing with children while wearing work clothes that had been contaminated with asbestos fibers, is sufficient to establish an asbestos or mesothelioma-related wrongful death claim.

The law in these cases can be both complex and confusing to the layman and can be only briefly summarized here. Anyone believing that they have the right to file a wrongful death claim in West Virginia, or in any other state, should consult an attorney with experience in handling asbestos / mesothelioma wrongful death cases as soon as possible. Most attorneys will be happy to review the facts in a case without charging a fee and without further obligations