“The Claiming Game,” Bates White’s latest Mealey’s Litigation Report: Asbestos paper, addresses the lack of transparency between the trust and tort systems. We explore the emergence of recent 524(g) trusts and show that most mesothelioma claimants will receive substantial payments from these trusts.
This paper takes into account the emergence of recent 524(g) trusts and presents case studies on the work histories of four actual mesothelioma plaintiffs in California to illustrate the impact of an individual’s exposure profile on the expected range of trust settlements. We demonstrate that while one plaintiff might receive as little as $400,000, two other plaintiffs with more extensive and diverse occupational exposure could receive as much as $1.6 million. The results of this paper show the range of entitlements asbestos plaintiffs may receive from multiple bankruptcy trusts and will be followed by another article that examines on a national basis what plaintiffs may recover under the trusts’ individual review model for compensation.
