Year: 2026

In March 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) handed down a final rule banning chrysotile asbestos in the United States of America. Chrysotile asbestos is the most common type of asbestos used across the world, and the only form of asbestos that is currently used in or imported into the U.S. Chrysotile asbestos can be found in many products, including sheet gaskets, brakes/linings, brake blocks, and other gaskets. This type of asbestos has been banned in 50 other countries worldwide.

For purposes of this article, the deceased Navy veteran will be referred to as E.E. In a recent mesothelioma case, the Court of Appeals of Washington rejected arguments that Caterpillar presented and allowed a Navy veteran’s widow to recover a $4.5 million jury award. Before Navy veteran E.E. died of mesothelioma, he and his wife filed a legal claim against several companies they blamed for the illness. E.E. and his wife claimed that E.E. suffered asbestos exposure because of working with asbestos-contaminated pipe insulation while serving aboard the USS Curtiss.

The effects of COVID-19 have been felt across nearly every facet of life in America, and the courts have certainly been no exception. With health and safety protocols limiting in-person gatherings, many individuals seeking justice through the courts have had their hearings and trials seemingly inevitably delayed until the United States is able to bring the virus under control in order to resume our way of life.

The New Jersey state Supreme Court recently handed down a significant ruling that will have an important impact on asbestos cancer litigation in the state and potentially nationwide for claims against Honeywell International and other asbestos companies. The ruling centers around the insurance many of these asbestos companies retain in order to shield themselves financially from verdicts and settlements in mesothelioma cancer lawsuits for claims related to asbestos-contaminated products.

The Pennsylvania Common Wealth Court recently ruled that the exclusivity provision of the Pennsylvania state Occupational Disease Law applies to diseases that appear within four years and not to those with a long latency period like that of mesothelioma. This decision came after the University of Pittsburgh, also known as Pitt, one of the defendants in a mesothelioma claim, argued against a claim filed by an engineer who worked in the school, stating that they were protected from the claim by law.

Money does not grow on trees, nor does it appear out of thin air. For victims of asbestos exposure, it is very costly to undergo treatment. Each claim is different, but at the very least, there are medical bills that need to be paid. While the asbestos trust funds (worth an estimated $30 billion) are designed to compensate the victims, the FACT Act would require more paperwork and could actually end up delaying the compensation process. As it stands, getting compensation is anything but instantaneous. The asbestos-related trust funds are not actually controlled by the companies that went bankrupt.