THRONEBERRY LAW
Mesothelioma & Asbestos Attorneys
TRUST PAYMENT REFERENCE
A payment reference for the Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation Asbestos Personal Injury Trust. Every figure below was checked against the trust's own website, notices, and Trust Distribution Procedures on October 16, 2026.
CURRENT TRUST STATUS
The Kaiser Aluminum asbestos trust pays 10.6% of scheduled value. The trustees directed Verus Claims Services to pay at that rate on February 5, 2025, down from 15.5%, in a notice asking the Future Claimants' Representative and the Trust Advisory Committee to consent to the cut. As of October 16, 2026 the trust has posted no notice adopting the 10.6% rate as final, but under TDP Section 4.3 claims are paid at the lower of the current and proposed rates while a cut is pending, so 10.6% is the rate that applies. A mesothelioma claim carries a $70,000 scheduled value, so an Expedited Review mesothelioma claim pays about $7,420. Every claim needs Kaiser exposure before December 31, 1982.
Throneberry Law Group files Kaiser Aluminum claims for refractory, steel, and insulation workers and their families across the country. This trust covers the asbestos products of Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation, not the separate Kaiser Gypsum trust, and 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 | 10.6% of scheduled value for Expedited Review and of the liquidated value for Individual Review. Level I cash discount claims are paid their full $200 and are not subject to the percentage. |
|---|---|
| In effect since | February 5, 2025 (Notice of Request for Consent to Decrease Payment Percentage dated February 5, 2025). The notice proposes the cut and directs Verus to pay at 10.6% while it is pending. No adoption notice has been posted as of October 16, 2026. |
| Prior rate | 15.5%, paid from June 19, 2023 (consent request) and adopted by notice dated August 15, 2023. |
| Review cycle | The trustees must reconsider the payment percentage at least once every three years (TDP Section 4.2). The last change was the February 5, 2025 proposal. |
| Mesothelioma scheduled value | $70,000 (Disease Level VIII, TDP Section 5.3(b)(3)). Individual Review average $104,000, maximum $380,000. |
| Mesothelioma payout at the current rate | About $7,420 under Expedited Review ($70,000 x 10.6%). Individual Review pays 10.6% of the value the trust sets, up to $380,000 before the percentage, or about $40,280 after it. |
| Review options | Expedited Review for Levels I, II, III, IV, V, VII, and VIII. Individual Review only for Lung Cancer 2 (Level VI), which has no scheduled value and is capped at $20,000 before the percentage. |
| Exposure requirement | Kaiser exposure before December 31, 1982. Mesothelioma (Level VIII) needs credible evidence of Kaiser exposure. Levels III, IV, V, and VII need six months of Kaiser exposure plus Significant Occupational Exposure (five years in an asbestos trade, two of them before December 31, 1982). Level II needs six months of Kaiser exposure plus five years of occupational asbestos exposure. For claims filed or refiled after July 1, 2025, the Amended Exposure Evidence Policy requires proof that the worker was at a specific job site while a Kaiser asbestos product was there, plus the worker's occupation. |
| Filing deadline | For anyone diagnosed after the February 12, 2002 petition date, within three years after diagnosis, or by June 18, 2010 (three years after the Initial Claims Filing Date), whichever is later, regardless of any state statute of limitations (TDP Section 5.1(a)(2)). Claims diagnosed before the petition date were tolled as of that date and had to be filed by June 18, 2010. |
| Extraordinary Claims | Up to eight times the scheduled value for mesothelioma, five times the scheduled value for Levels IV, V, and VII, and five times the average value for Level VI, each multiplied by the payment percentage (TDP Section 5.4(a)). Individual Review only. |
| Fees | No filing fee or re-filing fee is stated in the trust's filing instructions. |
| Claims processor | Verus Claims Services. |
| Claims accepted since | December 18, 2006. Claims filed between December 18, 2006 and June 18, 2007 were deemed filed on the Initial Claims Filing Date, June 18, 2007. |
| Trust created | August 3, 2006, when the Bankruptcy Court and District Court confirmed Kaiser's Second Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization and the Trust Agreement was signed. Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation filed for Chapter 11 on February 12, 2002. |
| Last checked | October 16, 2026, against kaiserasbestostrust.com, the Third Amended Asbestos Trust Distribution Procedures and the Fourth Amendment to them, the Instructions for Filing a Claim, the Kaiser Products Listing, the Amended Notice of Kaiser Exposure Evidence Policy (effective July 1, 2025), and the payment percentage notices dated April 1, 2019, November 1, 2020, June 19, 2023, August 15, 2023, and February 5, 2025. |
SCHEDULE OF DISEASES
The trust sorts asbestos diseases into eight levels. Seven carry a fixed scheduled value for Expedited Review. Lung Cancer 2 has no scheduled value and goes through Individual Review only. The average and maximum values come from TDP Section 5.3(b)(3) and apply to Individual Review.
| Level | Disease | Scheduled Value | IR Average | IR Maximum | ER Payout at 10.6% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIII | Mesothelioma | $70,000 | $104,000 | $380,000 | About $7,420 |
| VII | Lung Cancer 1 | $27,500 | $33,000 | $85,000 | About $2,915 |
| VI | Lung Cancer 2 | None | $7,000 | $20,000 | Individual Review |
| V | Other Cancer | $13,800 | $17,300 | $40,000 | About $1,463 |
| IV | Severe Asbestosis | $20,750 | $22,000 | $55,000 | About $2,200 |
| III | Asbestosis / Pleural Disease | $4,850 | Not set | Not set | About $514 |
| II | Asbestosis / Pleural Disease | $700 | Not set | Not set | $200 minimum |
| I | Other Asbestos Disease (Cash Discount) | $200 | Not set | Not set | $200 (not reduced) |
The Expedited Review payout is the scheduled value times 10.6%, rounded. Two exceptions come from the Fourth Amendment to the TDP: Level I claims are paid the full $200 with no percentage applied, and Level II claims receive at least $200 after the percentage is applied.
FILING REQUIREMENTS
The trust checks three things on every claim: the disease, the exposure, and the timing. Since July 1, 2025 the exposure proof has been tighter than it used to be, so that is where most Kaiser claims are won or lost.
Every claim needs exposure to a Kaiser asbestos product before December 31, 1982. For a claim filed or refiled after July 1, 2025, the trust's Amended Exposure Evidence Policy requires two things: proof that the worker was at a specific job site while a Kaiser asbestos product was there, and proof of the worker's occupation at the time. If the site is on the trust's Approved Site List, an affidavit from the worker, a co-worker, or a family member of a deceased worker is enough, and so are employment records or other records from the time. If the site is not on the list, the claim needs either the worker's own sworn statement, or a co-worker's sworn statement that the Kaiser product was there plus a second piece of evidence such as another affidavit or employment records. A co-worker statement alone will not carry an unlisted site. Mesothelioma needs only credible evidence of Kaiser exposure. Levels III, IV, V, and VII also need six months of Kaiser exposure and Significant Occupational Exposure, which means five years in a trade that handled, cut, or worked next to asbestos products, with at least two of those years before December 31, 1982. Kaiser also runs a separate Silica trust and a CTPV trust for coal tar pitch volatiles, and a worker who filed with either must say so on the claim form and attach any release.
A mesothelioma claim needs a diagnosis of mesothelioma, usually a pathology report. Every claim also needs a doctor's statement, or a work history, showing at least ten years between first asbestos exposure and diagnosis. Lower levels require the medical findings the TDP lists for that level, such as an ILO reading of 2/1 or higher and reduced lung function for Severe Asbestosis. The National Cancer Institute explains what mesothelioma is and how it is diagnosed.
For anyone diagnosed after February 12, 2002, the TDP's own deadline is three years after diagnosis, and it applies regardless of any state statute of limitations (TDP Section 5.1(a)(2)). The trust's filing instructions still tell claimants to file before the state limitations period runs, so we treat the three years from diagnosis as the outside limit and file well inside it.
Expedited Review pays the scheduled value times the payment percentage once the claim meets the level's medical and exposure criteria. For mesothelioma that is about $7,420 at 10.6%. Individual Review looks at the whole case, including age, earnings, and dependents, and can set a value up to $380,000 for mesothelioma before the percentage is applied, or about $40,280 after it. Lung Cancer 2 claims must use Individual Review. An Extraordinary Claim, where the worker's exposure came mostly from Kaiser products, can be valued at up to eight times the mesothelioma scheduled value, or $560,000 before the percentage (TDP Section 5.4(a)). Because the rate is low, Individual Review only makes sense for a claim with a strong Kaiser-specific exposure history, and we run that comparison before filing.
RATE HISTORY
The Third Amended TDP set the initial payment percentage at 39.5%, and the trust's filing instructions still print that figure. By the time of the trust's first posted change notice the rate was 35%. A notice dated April 1, 2019 cut it to 25%, and a notice dated November 1, 2020 cut it to 18.1%. On June 19, 2023 the trustees asked the Future Claimants' Representative and the Trust Advisory Committee to consent to 15.5% and began paying at that rate, and a notice dated August 15, 2023 adopted the 15.5% rate.
On February 5, 2025 the trustees proposed a further cut to 10.6% and directed Verus to pay at 10.6% that day under TDP Section 4.3, which pays the lower of the current and proposed rates while a change is pending. As of October 16, 2026 no notice adopting the 10.6% rate has been posted, and no fee change or new proposal has appeared. The rate has fallen from 39.5% to 10.6% since the trust opened, so a claim filed today is worth about a quarter of the same claim filed under the original TDP.
PRODUCTS AND WORK SITES
Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation made refractory products for steel mills through its Kaiser Refractories division, resold asbestos insulation under its own name, sold building panels through its Mirawal division, and traded raw chrysotile asbestos fiber through a subsidiary. The trust's Kaiser Products Listing names these asbestos-containing products and the years each was sold.
The refractories went into furnaces, ladles, and soaking pits at steel mills, and the block, cement, and mud went onto pipes, boilers, and vessels in plants of every kind. Bricklayers and refractory masons, steelworkers, insulators, pipefitters, boilermakers, and the plant workers and power plant workers around them breathed the dust. The same work history usually supports claims against other refractory trusts, such as NARCO and Harbison-Walker, and the trust's Approved Jobsite List is the first place we check for every client.
QUESTIONS
As of October 16, 2026, the Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation Asbestos PI Trust pays 10.6% of scheduled value. The trustees proposed that rate on February 5, 2025, down from 15.5%, and have paid at 10.6% since that date while the proposal is pending.
The mesothelioma scheduled value is $70,000. At the current 10.6% rate, an Expedited Review claim pays about $7,420. Individual Review can set a value up to $380,000 before the percentage is applied, which is about $40,280 at 10.6%.
Usually not. For anyone diagnosed after February 12, 2002, the trust's own deadline is three years after diagnosis, and the TDP applies it regardless of state statutes of limitations. The exposure must have happened before December 31, 1982, and the exposure proof rules tightened on July 1, 2025, so the safest step is to file soon after diagnosis with site and occupation evidence in hand.
WHY THRONEBERRY LAW
At 10.6%, a Kaiser claim is rarely the biggest check a family receives, but it is one of several refractory and insulation trusts that reach the same job history, and the site-and-occupation proof that satisfies Kaiser's 2025 evidence policy usually satisfies the others too. We build that proof once and file it everywhere it fits. 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 Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation Asbestos Personal Injury Trust website (kaiserasbestostrust.com), the Third Amended Asbestos Trust Distribution Procedures and the Fourth Amendment to them, the Instructions for Filing a Claim with the trust, the Kaiser Products Listing, the Amended Notice of Kaiser Exposure Evidence Policy (effective for claims filed after July 1, 2025), the Asbestos PI Trust Agreement and confirmation orders dated August 3, 2006, and the trust's payment percentage notices dated April 1, 2019, November 1, 2020, June 19, 2023, August 15, 2023, and February 5, 2025. Last checked October 16, 2026.
DISCLAIMER
This page is general information, not legal advice. Trust payment percentages, scheduled 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 laid firebrick, worked a steel mill furnace, or handled Kaiser block and cement, the Kaiser Aluminum asbestos trust may owe a payment, and it is usually one of several trusts that reach the same job history. We check the current rate, the exposure rules, and the deadline 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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