How Much Can I Recover?

The dollar amount you are likely to receive as compensation for developing mesothelioma is hard to estimate. Some cases result in settlements or jury awards in the millions, while similar ones settle for comparatively little. This is because over the years, many companies that manufactured or installed asbestos have closed down or gone bankrupt, which in turn has resulted in courts' requiring that large funds be set aside to compensate future victims. Some of these funds are still large enough to pay out all claims at full value, but others have been depleted to the point that far less is available, so settlement amounts must be rationed.

In addition to the size of the asbestos victims' compensation fund available for payment, each victim's particular mesothelioma illness and how it has affected their life is important to arriving at a cash settlement or jury verdict. The dollar amount of wages lost due to the illness, the cost of medical expenses, and, usually most important, the degree of the victim's pain and suffering are all key factors in putting a dollar value on a particular case.

A third factor in estimating how much money damages you'll recover is time. When cases are settled relatively quickly, the amount recovered tends to be significantly less than if your lawyer waits to present your case to a trial jury. But preparing and conducting a jury trial may take several years, whereas settlements can often be arranged in a year or less. For this reason, many seriously ill plaintiffs prefer a relatively quick settlement, and this is especially true when they learn that some lawyers charge substantially more when a case goes to trial.

All of this being said, many mesothelioma cases result in settlement or awards in the range of $1 million to $5 million or more, but when attorneys' fees, court costs, and medical expenses are subtracted, victims often end up with around two-thirds of these amounts.

Source:http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/asbestos-mesothelioma-lawsuits-what-expect-30340.html