Timeline For Filing Your Asbestos Lawsuit
4 min read
If you have suffered from an asbestos lawsuit, you need to learn the set time limit to get your compensation.
Asbestos cases have one of the longest latency periods. Victims of asbestos exposure may take up to 20 to 30 years before any symptoms appear. This brings up a bone of contention when victims discover they are suffering from such conditions that may have emanated from manufacturers or employer negligence.
If you have been diagnosed with asbestos, it’s high time to seek legal help to understand how your condition will be affected by the statute of limitations.
Statute Of Limitations
There is always a limited time when it comes to filing a lawsuit. Every state has a streamlined way of handling asbestos cases and when they should be filed. However, many factors influence the way asbestos claims are resolved. If you have a case, having the best personal injury law firms ensures you learn of the loopholes that may lead to your claim denial.
One main reason the court is strict on the filing deadline of asbestos cases is to deter victims to sue over a case that occurred many years ago. Few exceptions apply, especially where there is death related to asbestos. Also, some asbestos symptoms are known to appear some years after exposure.
If you are unsure whether your time to file your asbestos case has run out due to your situation, you need an asbestos lawyer to guide you on how to maneuver through and get compensated.
Asbestos cases prove to be among the most complicated cases. Thus, if you miss a deadline and have no reason to warrant an extension, you will have lost your chance to file a claim against anyone who led to your asbestos exposure.
What If My Case Has A Long Latency Period
Anyone affected by asbestos suffers uniquely. Thus, some cases may take a few months to settle, while others take years. The time difference may be as a result of:
- How serious you suffered injuries after the asbestos exposure
- The quality of evidence provided. One common factor that affects the statute of limitations is the evidence provided. Any evidence provided has to undergo review by both parties. Also, the evidence may reveal out other defendants, and such will need time to prepare for the case.
This means that you must have a well-versed attorney who understands how to get detailed evidence on what caused your injuries and who was negligent. The issue about injuries may require you to have medical records from a qualified asbestos specialist.
What If Time Elapses Before Filing A Claim
Your time to file an asbestos claim will be affected by:
- The date you learned about your injuries. This is the time a doctor diagnosed you, and the diagnosis indicated you were suffering from asbestos.
- The date which you stopped working due to the effect of asbestos or any other injury such as chest pain.
- Late discovery of your injury. In most cases, people are exposed to asbestos but develop other issues unrelated to asbestos symptoms. In such a case, it becomes easy to use the discovery rule to argue out that such a victim would not have realized they were suffering from asbestos until they got sick.
- The state you were living in at the time of exposure. Let’s say you were working in California, and once you retired, you moved to Alaska. The time limit will be determined by where the exposure occurred. In such a situation, your attorney may find whether it would be possible to file the claim in that other state if they have a longer filing deadline. But this would be an issue if the jurisdiction laws states otherwise.
The bottom line is that the time will start running when it would be deemed reasonable to have known about your asbestos case.
Have Time To File Your Asbestos Case Elapsed?
In some cases, an asbestos victim may develop others injuries as a result of asbestos. For such, there have to be medical expenses to prove that the injuries resulted from asbestos. As such, you may start up a new case with the new statute of limitations even if such time had elapsed.
Asbestos cases are complicated. It requires a victim to understand how to go about such a case with statute of limitations in mind.
Remember that each case is different, and a jury decision to one case may be different to another case. However, with an experienced attorney, it becomes easy to understand how the statute of limitations will be applied in your given case.
If you have any questions regarding how to provide evidence and have it easy when applying to exceptions, you can request a free case review from a seasoned asbestos attorney.
About Author
