THRONEBERRY LAW GROUP
Mesothelioma & Asbestos Attorneys
TRUST PAYMENT REFERENCE
A payment reference for the J.T. Thorpe Settlement Trust, which pays claims for exposure to the asbestos refractory and insulation work of J.T. Thorpe, Inc., a Southern California contractor, at shipyards, refineries, power plants, and industrial sites. Like its sister Reno trusts, J.T. Thorpe values claims on a Case Valuation Matrix rather than a flat scheduled value. Every figure below was checked against the trust's own TDP, Matrix, Twentieth Annual Report, notices, and site, ship, and job book lists on October 18, 2026.
CURRENT TRUST STATUS
The J.T. Thorpe trust pays 53.7% of a claim's liquidated value. On September 18, 2026 the trustees, with the consent of the Trust Advisory Committee and the Futures Representative, raised the payment percentage from 50% to 53.7%, and claimants already paid at 50% are to receive the difference by the end of November 2026. J.T. Thorpe does not use a scheduled value. A mesothelioma claim starts at a $102,647 base case value, is multiplied by adjustment factors for age, whether the injured person is living, dependents, economic and medical loss, the exposure rating of the site, and a doubling for high-exposure trades, is paid at 53.7%, and then gets a cost-of-living add-on that for 2026 payments is a cumulative 60.9%. A base case mesothelioma claim with no adjustments comes to about $55,121 at 53.7%, or about $88,690 with the 2026 inflation add-on. The Matrix caps a claim at four times the $150,000 mesothelioma Average Value unless it is an Extraordinary Claim. In 2025 the trust paid 119 claims, 43 of them mesothelioma.
Throneberry Law Group files J.T. Thorpe claims for boilermakers, insulators, pipefitters, refinery and power plant workers, shipyard workers, and Navy veterans from Los Angeles, Long Beach, and the rest of Southern California, and for their families. This page is part of our asbestos trust funds guide, which covers every trust we file against.
PAYMENT REFERENCE
The table below is the short answer. The sections that follow explain each line.
| Current payment percentage | 53.7% of the total liquidated claim value (Payment Percentage Review notice posted September 18, 2026). |
|---|---|
| In effect since | September 18, 2026, when the trustees, with the consent of the TAC and the Futures Representative, raised the rate from 50% to 53.7%. The notice says claims will be paid at the new rate once the claims system is updated and that eligible previously paid claims should receive the additional amounts by the end of November 2026. |
| Prior rates | 50% at the trust's commencement in 2006; temporarily reduced to 40% in November 2008 while the trustees studied early claiming patterns; raised to 45% in 2010 after that study, with the 5% difference paid to claimants who had received 40%; raised to 50% on June 13, 2018; reviewed in September 2021 through May 6, 2022 and on February 21, 2025 and left at 50%; raised to 53.7% on September 18, 2026. |
| Review cycle | The trustees must reconsider the payment percentage at least once every three years, and may change it with the consent of the TAC and the Futures Representative (TDP Section 4.2; Twentieth Annual Report paragraph 10). |
| Inflation adjustment | Yes, two ways. Every payment carries a CPI-W cost-of-living adjustment: payments made in 2026 include a cumulative 60.9% add-on (56.82% for 2025 payments). The Matrix loss thresholds are indexed each January; for 2026 the Economic Loss base case is $321,800, the Medical Loss base case is $333,002, and the Assumed Future Medical Loss and Funeral Expenses figure is $124,876 (Annual Report paragraph 12; notice posted January 13, 2026). |
| Mesothelioma values | Base case $102,647; Average Value $150,000. Minimum payment is 10% of the Average Value ($15,000); maximum is four times the Average Value ($600,000) unless the claim is Extraordinary (Matrix Section I(a)). |
| Mesothelioma payout at the current rate | A base case claim with a multiplier of 1.0 liquidates at $102,647 and pays about $55,121 at 53.7%, or about $88,690 once the 2026 inflation add-on of 60.9% is applied. A claim valued at the Average Value ($150,000) pays about $80,550 at 53.7%, about $129,605 with the add-on. A boilermaker, insulator, or pipefitter gets a 2.0 multiplier on top of the site rating, so real claims in those trades run well above the base case. |
| Review options | Matrix Claim (meets all Matrix medical and exposure criteria; valued by base case times multipliers). Individual Review for a claim that misses a Matrix criterion but would be valid in the tort system, capped at the Average Value unless the claim is Extraordinary (Matrix Section VIII). Disputes go to arbitration under the trust's ADR Procedures. |
| Extraordinary Claims | Where the injured person was exposed only to Thorpe, Thorpe exposure was over 80% of total asbestos exposure, medical expenses are extraordinary, or special damages are exceptionally large, the trust may value the claim above the Maximum Value, up to eight times the Average Value ($1,200,000 for mesothelioma before the payment percentage). Disputes go to a special Extraordinary Claims panel (Matrix Section IX). |
| Claims payment ratio | The TDP fixes a Disease Category Claims Payment Ratio by year: 89% of the Maximum Annual Payment for malignant (Category A) claims and 11% for non-malignant (Category B) claims in 2006 and 2007; 90/10 from 2008 through 2025; and 91/9 from 2026 through 2039 (TDP Section 2.5). Claims a category cannot pay in a year carry to the head of the next year's queue. The Maximum Annual Payment for 2026 is $6,315,501. |
| Exposure requirement | Credible, reliable evidence of exposure to asbestos-containing material for which Thorpe is responsible at an approved site or on an approved ship. Mesothelioma requires at least three months of exposure at approved Thorpe sites, or Thorpe exposure equal to at least 10% of total asbestos exposure; one to three months earns a reduced value. Every other disease requires at least one year or 25% (Matrix Section VII(d)). Sites are rated by how many Thorpe jobs the trust found there: High (50 or more contracts) multiplies the value by 2.0, Standard (4 to 49) by 1.0, and Low (3 or fewer) by 0.5. Boilermakers, insulators, pipefitters, steamfitters, stationary engineers, boilertenders, and Thorpe employees are High Exposure Jobtypes and get a 2.0 multiplier at any rated site (Section VII(c)). Shipboard exposure requires proof that Thorpe actually installed or removed asbestos products on that ship and that the worker was in an area exposed to that work. Secondary (household) exposure is allowed when the worker would have qualified. |
| Filing deadline | The statute of limitations is the one that applies in the tort system where a claim against Thorpe was pending on the Petition Date, or where it could have been timely and properly filed (TDP Section 5.2). Claims not already barred on February 12, 2002 (the Petition Date) were tolled through October 16, 2007 without any action by the claimant (Section 5.3(a)(2)). For a new diagnosis, the controlling state's limitations period (California's, for most Thorpe claimants) sets the deadline, so the claim should be filed as soon as the diagnosis is confirmed. |
| Fees and withdrawal rules | $250 filing fee per claim, refunded if the claim is allowed and paid (TDP Section 6.5; reviewed November 7, 2025 with no change). A claim left on Hold/Deferred, Reviewed Deficient, or Offer Made status for six months (plus one six-month extension for good cause) is deemed withdrawn; an Incomplete claim with no fee is withdrawn after two weeks. Withdrawal does not affect the statute of limitations but costs the claim its place in the FIFO queue, and a resubmitted claim needs a new fee (TDP Section 6.3; trust policy page). The fee is refunded if a site is removed from the list after the claim is filed. |
| Claims processor | The trust is administered from Reno under a facilities and services sharing agreement with the Western Asbestos Settlement Trust: J.T. Thorpe Settlement Trust, 560 Hammill Lane, Reno, Nevada 89511, (775) 324-5511, support@524gtrust.com. Online filing through the trust's claims system. Payments by ACH only since January 1, 2021. Trustees: John F. Luikart (Managing Trustee) and Sandra R. Hernández, M.D.; Futures Representative Hon. David F. Levi; TAC chair Alan R. Brayton. |
| Trust created | Under the First Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization for J.T. Thorpe, Inc., Thorpe Holding Company, and Thorpe Technologies, Inc., confirmed by order dated August 5, 2005 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, Los Angeles Division (Case Nos. LA-02-14216-BB and LA-04-35876-BB, jointly administered). Petition Date February 12, 2002; the trust started June 29, 2006. Current governing documents: Fifteenth Amendment to and Complete Restatement of Trust Agreement; Fifth Amendment to and Complete Restatement of TDP; Fourth Amendment to and Complete Restatement of Case Valuation Matrix (for claims submitted on or after June 1, 2026). |
| Last checked | October 18, 2026, against jttstrust.com (home, About the Trust, Trust Documents, Claims Packet, Policies, FAQ, Trust Representatives, and Contact pages and the 2006 through 2025 notice archives), the Payment Percentage Review notice posted September 18, 2026, the Twentieth Annual Report and Accounting filed April 28, 2026 (including the Fifth Amended TDP, the Third Amended Matrix, and the Claim Report as of December 31, 2025), the Modification to Case Valuation Matrix posted May 28, 2026, the J.T. Thorpe Site List (April 2019), the Ship List (April 2015), and the Summary of J.T. Thorpe Job Books (August 2023). |
SCHEDULE OF DISEASES
J.T. Thorpe compensates five diseases: mesothelioma, lung cancer, other cancer, and two grades of non-malignant disease. The base case value is the starting point for the multipliers. The Average Value is the historical settlement average the Matrix is built to reproduce; it sets the floor (10%), the Individual Review cap (1x), the Maximum Value (4x), and the Extraordinary Claim ceiling (8x). Payments are then multiplied by 53.7% and increased by the year's inflation add-on.
| Disease | Base Case Value | Average Value | Base Case Payout at 53.7% | With 2026 Inflation Add-On (60.9%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mesothelioma | $102,647 | $150,000 | About $55,121 | About $88,690 |
| Lung Cancer | $15,278 | $40,000 | About $8,204 | About $13,201 |
| Other Cancer | $8,496 | $25,000 | About $4,562 | About $7,341 |
| Grade I Non-Malignancy | $6,843 | $10,000 | About $3,675 | About $5,913 |
| Grade II Non-Malignancy | $2,374 | $3,000 | About $1,275 | About $2,051 |
The payout columns are the base case value times 53.7%, then times 1.609 for the 2026 add-on, rounded, for a claim with a 1.0 multiplier. Base case mesothelioma means a deceased 75-year-old with a spouse, no other dependents, economic loss and medical expenses under the indexed thresholds, Standard exposure, and ten years of latency. Multipliers move from there: age (adjusted up for claimants under 75 and down for those over 75), 1.3 if living when the lawsuit or claim was filed, dependents, documented economic or medical loss above the thresholds, the site rating (2.0 High, 1.0 Standard, 0.5 Low), and 2.0 for a High Exposure Jobtype (Matrix Sections II and VII(c)). A living boilermaker at a High site, for example, carries 1.3 x 2.0 x 2.0 before age and loss adjustments. Since June 1, 2026, Serious Asbestosis (ILO 2/2 with AMA Class IV impairment, or qualifying oxygen dependence) and asbestosis death are valued on the lung cancer scale.
FILING REQUIREMENTS
J.T. Thorpe is a litigation-style trust run by the Western Asbestos office in Reno. It wants the claim form, trust-approved California interrogatories, a litigation declaration, medical records, and the economic and medical loss documentation a tort case would carry, and it rates the exposure site by the number of Thorpe jobs it can document there.
The claimant must show, by credible and reliable evidence, exposure to asbestos-containing material for which Thorpe is responsible (Matrix Sections I(d) and VII). The trust's Site List (April 2019) has 2,717 entries covering about 2,444 distinct sites, each rated by the number of Thorpe contracts the trust found: 60 sites rated High (50 or more jobs), including the Bethlehem Steel shipyard at San Pedro and its Vernon mill, the Shell, Mobil, Texaco, Union Oil, ARCO, Gulf, and Standard Oil refineries from El Segundo to Wilmington and Santa Fe Springs, the Southern California Edison plants at Redondo Beach, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, and San Pedro, the Southern California Gas plants in Los Angeles, Kaiser Steel in Fontana, Alcoa in Vernon, Alcan in Riverside, Harvey Aluminum and Martin-Marietta in Torrance, US Borax, American Potash in Trona, and Titanium Metals in Henderson, Nevada; 783 entries rated Standard (4 to 49 jobs); and 1,729 rated Low (3 or fewer). The Ship List (April 2015) has 3,022 entries covering 1,795 ships, and the trust also posts a Summary of J.T. Thorpe Job Books (August 2023) with more than 29,000 job entries going back to the 1920s, which is the trust's own record of where Thorpe worked and when. Mesothelioma needs three months at approved Thorpe sites or 10% of total exposure (one to three months gets a reduced value); all other diseases need one year or 25% (Section VII(d)). When several sites are needed to reach the minimum, the trust blends the ratings by time (trust Blending Exposures policy). For a ship, the trust requires proof that Thorpe actually installed or removed asbestos products on that ship and that the worker was in an area exposed to that work; being aboard during a repair at a shipyard where Thorpe worked counts if the worker stayed aboard. Household exposure claims must show the worker would have qualified. Declarations must come from someone with direct knowledge and explain the basis for every fact.
Diagnoses must be made by board-certified physicians in the right specialty to a reasonable medical probability; reports that say findings are only "consistent with" asbestos disease are not enough on their own (Matrix Section I(b)). Mesothelioma needs a diagnosis by a pathologist, internist, pulmonologist, or occupational medicine physician and ten years of latency. Lung cancer and other cancer have their own criteria. Non-malignant claims are divided into Grade I and Grade II by imaging and pulmonary function results, with Enhanced and Serious Asbestosis tiers above them, and the trust posts a checklist for each disease. The National Cancer Institute explains what mesothelioma is and how it is diagnosed.
The deadline is the statute of limitations of the state where a Thorpe claim was pending or could have been filed, which for most claimants is California's (TDP Section 5.2). Claims that were not already time-barred on February 12, 2002 were tolled through October 16, 2007. For a diagnosis today, the state limitations period runs from the diagnosis, so the trust claim and any companion lawsuit should move together. Every claim needs a $250 filing fee, refunded when the claim is allowed and paid. Claims are processed first-in, first-out and paid in the order their values became final, subject to the payment percentage, the Maximum Annual Payment, and the category ratio (TDP Section 5.3). A claim parked in Hold/Deferred, Reviewed Deficient, or Offer Made status for six months is deemed withdrawn after any extension expires; an Incomplete claim without a fee is withdrawn after two weeks. Withdrawal does not change the statute of limitations, but the claim goes to the back of the line and needs a new fee. Payments are by ACH only.
A claim that meets every Matrix criterion is valued at the base case times the multipliers, floored at 10% of the Average Value and capped at four times the Average Value. A claim that misses a criterion but would be valid in the tort system can get Individual Review, capped at the Average Value (Section VIII). An Extraordinary Claim (Thorpe-only or over 80% Thorpe exposure, extraordinary medical expenses, or exceptionally large special damages) can exceed the Maximum Value up to eight times the Average Value (Section IX). Disputes go to arbitration under the trust's ADR Procedures. Every result is then paid at 53.7% plus the year's inflation add-on, subject to the Maximum Annual Payment ($6,315,501 for 2026) and the 91/9 malignant-to-non-malignant category split that applies from 2026 through 2039.
RATE HISTORY
The trust opened on June 29, 2006 at a 50% payment percentage. In November 2008 the trustees, with the consent of the TAC and the Futures Representative, temporarily cut the rate to 40% after early claim filings ran ahead of the forecast, so an expert could study whether the pattern would persist. After that study the rate was set at 45% in 2010, and claimants who had been paid at 40% received the extra 5%. On June 13, 2018 the trustees raised the rate back to 50%, again paying previously paid claimants the difference. Reviews in September 2021 (final determination May 6, 2022) and on February 21, 2025 left the rate at 50%.
On September 18, 2026 the trustees raised the rate from 50% to 53.7%, with the consent of the TAC and the Futures Representative; eligible previously paid claims are to receive the additional amounts by the end of November 2026. The trust also sets a Maximum Annual Payment each year under TDP Section 2.4; for 2026 it is $6,315,501, set at the November 7, 2025 trustees' meeting. The Claim Report as of December 31, 2025 shows 293 claims received, 140 offers issued, and 119 claims paid in 2025 (43 mesothelioma, 21 lung cancer, 6 other cancer, 4 serious asbestosis, 35 Grade I and Enhanced, 10 Grade II), and total payments since inception of $189,960,646 across trust-processed, pre-petition, and increase payments.
PRODUCTS AND WORK SITES
J.T. Thorpe, Inc. was a refractory contractor that worked mainly at Southern California shipyards, oil refineries, power plants, and other major industrial sites (trust About page), installing and removing asbestos-containing refractory and insulation on boilers, furnaces, and process equipment. The trust also covers Thorpe Holding Company and Thorpe Technologies, Inc. The trust warns that it is not the J.T. Thorpe Company Successor Trust, a Texas trust for a separate Texas company that worked in Texas and Louisiana. Its job books, summarized on the trust site, document Thorpe jobs from the 1920s onward, from film studio incinerators to smelters, refineries, and power plants.
The High-rated sites, where the trust found 50 or more Thorpe jobs, are the Los Angeles basin's refineries and power plants: Shell at Dominguez and Wilmington, Mobil at Torrance, Texaco and Union Oil at Wilmington, ARCO at Carson, Standard Oil at El Segundo, Gulf and Powerine at Santa Fe Springs, Richfield at Hynes, the Southern California Edison plants at Redondo Beach, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, and San Pedro, and the Southern California Gas plants in Los Angeles; the Bethlehem Steel shipyard at San Pedro and mill at Vernon; and the metals and chemical plants (Kaiser Steel Fontana, Alcoa Vernon, Alcan Riverside, Harvey Aluminum and Martin-Marietta Torrance, Apex and Pacific Smelting, Federated Metals, US Borax, American Potash and Kerr-McGee at Trona, Stauffer Chemical, Monsanto Long Beach, and Titanium Metals in Henderson, Nevada). The ship list names 1,795 ships on which the trust accepts that Thorpe worked, with dates for each.
The same Southern California refinery and power plant history usually supports claims against the Thorpe Insulation trust, Johns Manville, and the other insulation trusts, and against the Western Asbestos trust when the work history reaches Northern California. We handle cases for Los Angeles and California clients, and our Los Angeles exposure sites page covers the region's refineries, plants, and shipyards.
QUESTIONS
As of October 18, 2026, the J.T. Thorpe Settlement Trust pays 53.7% of a claim's liquidated value. The trustees raised the rate from 50% to 53.7% on September 18, 2026, and claimants already paid at 50% are to receive the difference by the end of November 2026. Payments made in 2026 also carry a cumulative cost-of-living add-on of 60.9%.
There is no single figure, because J.T. Thorpe values claims on a Matrix. A mesothelioma case starts at a $102,647 base case value and is adjusted for age, living status, dependents, economic and medical loss, the site rating, and a 2.0 multiplier for boilermakers, insulators, pipefitters, and other high-exposure trades. A base case claim with no adjustments pays about $55,121 at 53.7%, about $88,690 with the 2026 inflation add-on. Claims can run up to four times the $150,000 Average Value, or eight times for an Extraordinary Claim.
The trust is still accepting and paying claims, and it paid 119 of them in 2025. The deadline is the statute of limitations of the state where the claim could have been filed, which for most Thorpe claimants is California's, so a new diagnosis should be acted on quickly. Every claim needs a $250 filing fee, refunded when the claim is paid.
WHY THRONEBERRY LAW GROUP
J.T. Thorpe's base case is small, but its multipliers are not. A living boilermaker or insulator at a High-rated refinery carries a 1.3 x 2.0 x 2.0 multiplier before age and loss adjustments, which turns a $102,647 base case into a claim worth several times that, and the trust just raised its rate. The work is in the proof: matching the job history to the 2,444-site list and the trust's own job books, documenting the trade so the High Exposure Jobtype multiplier applies, building declarations with the foundation the trust demands, and filing while the claimant is living when we can. We also calendar the November 2026 supplemental payment for clients already paid at 50%. Our overview of mesothelioma compensation explains how trust payments fit with lawsuits and other recoveries, and attorney Michael Throneberry, who has handled asbestos cases for more than two decades, reviews every trust claim before it goes out.
We work on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we recover money for you. We serve clients nationwide, we can help Spanish-speaking families, and we travel to you, including to your home or hospital.
SOURCES
Figures on this page come from the J.T. Thorpe Settlement Trust website (jttstrust.com): the home, About the Trust, Trust Documents, Claims Packet, Policies, FAQ, Trust Representatives, and Contact pages and the 2006 through 2025 notice archives; the Payment Percentage Review notice posted September 18, 2026; the Twentieth Annual Report and Accounting, Audited Financial Statements, and Claim Report filed April 28, 2026 in Case No. 2:02-bk-14216-BB (Bankr. C.D. Cal.), including the Fifth Amendment to and Complete Restatement of the TDP, the Third Amendment to and Complete Restatement of the Case Valuation Matrix, and the Claim Report as of December 31, 2025; the Modification to Case Valuation Matrix posted May 28, 2026; the J.T. Thorpe Site List (April 2019); the J.T. Thorpe Ship List (April 2015); and the Summary of J.T. Thorpe Job Books (August 2023). Last checked October 18, 2026.
DISCLAIMER
This page is general information, not legal advice. Trust payment percentages, Matrix values, and procedures change, and the trust's own current documents control. Payout examples are arithmetic on the trust's published figures, not a promise of any result. Contacting us or sending a form does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Copyright 2026 Throneberry Law Group. All rights reserved.
GET A FREE CASE REVIEW
If you or a family member worked as a boilermaker, insulator, or pipefitter at a Southern California refinery, power plant, or shipyard, or worked alongside Thorpe crews during a boiler or furnace outage, the J.T. Thorpe trust may owe a payment, and the same history often supports claims against several other trusts. We check the current rate, the site rating, the jobtype multiplier, and the fee and status deadlines for every trust before we file.
We serve clients across the country, we can help Spanish-speaking families, and we charge nothing unless we recover for you. Start with a free, no-obligation case review through our contact form.
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