THRONEBERRY LAW GROUP
Mesothelioma & Asbestos Attorneys
TRUST PAYMENT REFERENCE
A payment reference for the Western Asbestos Settlement Trust, which pays claims for exposure to asbestos insulation sold, installed, or removed by Western Asbestos Company, Western MacArthur Co., and MacArthur Co. in California, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Unlike most trusts, Western values claims on a Case Valuation Matrix built from tort settlement values, not a flat scheduled value. Every figure below was checked against the trust's own Matrix, Twenty-Second Annual Report, notices, and site and ship lists on October 18, 2026.
CURRENT TRUST STATUS
The Western Asbestos trust pays 51.1% of a claim's liquidated value, a rate set on June 3, 2019 and reaffirmed by the trustees in February 2023 and again on April 11, 2024. Western does not use a scheduled value. It starts from a base case value for each disease in each state ($276,479 for a California mesothelioma case, $148,678 in Minnesota, $58,544 in North Dakota), multiplies it by adjustment factors for age, whether the injured person is living, dependents, economic and medical loss, and the exposure rating of the work site, applies the 51.1% payment percentage, and then adds a cost-of-living adjustment that for 2026 payments is a cumulative 70.7%. A base case California mesothelioma claim with no adjustments comes to about $141,281 at 51.1%, or about $241,166 with the 2026 inflation add-on. The Matrix caps a claim at four times the state's average value ($524,025 for California mesothelioma) unless it qualifies as an Extraordinary Claim. In 2025 the trust paid 416 claims, 111 of them mesothelioma.
Throneberry Law Group files Western Asbestos claims for shipyard workers, Navy veterans, insulators, refinery and power plant workers, and 3M employees who worked in Northern California, Minnesota, or North Dakota, 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 | 51.1% of the total liquidated claim value (Payment Percentage Increase notice posted June 3, 2019; Twenty-Second Annual Report filed April 28, 2026). |
|---|---|
| In effect since | June 3, 2019, when the trustees, with the consent of the Trust Advisory Committee and the Futures Representative, raised the rate from 48% to 51.1%. Previously paid claims, including pre-petition liquidated claims, received the difference. The trustees reviewed the rate in February 2023 and on April 11, 2024 and left it at 51.1% both times. |
| Prior rates | 31.5% Initial Payment Percentage (approved by the Bankruptcy Court's order of April 14, 2004); 34.2% (April 2006); 40% (August 2007); 44% (February 2010, reaffirmed February 2013); 48% (October 2014, reaffirmed June 2018); 51.1% (June 2019). Every change has been an increase. |
| Review cycle | The trustees must reconsider the payment percentage at least once every three years, or sooner if they think it appropriate or the TAC or Futures Representative asks (TDP Section 4.2; trust FAQ). The trust's FAQ notes the rate has been reviewed more often than every three years. |
| Inflation adjustment | Yes, two ways. Every payment carries a cost-of-living adjustment based on the CPI-W: payments made in 2026 include a cumulative 70.7% inflation add-on (66.37% for 2025 payments). The Matrix thresholds are also indexed each January; for 2026 the Economic Loss base case is $341,395, the Medical Loss base case is $376,747, and the Assumed Future Medical Loss and Funeral Expenses figure is $141,280 (Annual Report paragraph 12; notice posted January 13, 2026). |
| Mesothelioma values | Base case: $276,479 (California), $148,678 (Minnesota), $58,544 (North Dakota). Average Value: $524,025 (California), $316,250 (Minnesota), $117,087 (North Dakota). Minimum payment is 10% of the Average Value; maximum is four times the Average Value ($2,096,100 in California) unless the claim is Extraordinary (Matrix Section I(a)). |
| Mesothelioma payout at the current rate | A base case California claim with a multiplier of 1.0 liquidates at $276,479 and pays about $141,281 at 51.1%, or about $241,166 once the 2026 inflation add-on of 70.7% is applied. A claim valued at the California Average Value ($524,025) pays about $267,777 at 51.1%, about $457,095 with the add-on. Real claims carry multipliers, so the figures move up or down from there. |
| 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 state's Average Value unless a panel of a trustee, the Futures Representative, and the TAC chair agrees to relax the cap (Matrix Section VIII). Disputes over rejection, medical condition, or exposure go to arbitration under the trust's ADR Procedures (TDP Section 5.9). |
| Extraordinary Claims | Where the injured person was exposed only to Western, Western 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 ($4,192,200 for a California mesothelioma claim before the payment percentage). Disputes go to a special Extraordinary Claims panel (Matrix Section IX). |
| Exposure requirement | Credible, reliable evidence of exposure to asbestos-containing material for which Western is responsible at an approved site or on an approved ship. Mesothelioma requires at least three months of exposure at approved Western sites, or Western 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 at approved Western sites or 25% of total exposure (Matrix Section VII(c)). Each site carries an exposure rating that multiplies the value: Very High 3.0, High 1.5, Standard 1.0, Low 0.5, Very Low 0.25. Shipboard exposure requires proof that Western products were installed on that ship and that the worker was in an area where they were present; ships built at Kaiser Richmond Yards 2, 3, and 4 and Bethlehem Steel San Francisco are treated as Standard exposure. Secondary (household) exposure is allowed when the worker would have qualified. |
| Filing deadline | Western claims are governed by the TDP's statute of limitations rules, and the trust's TDP is posted only as a scanned image, so this page does not restate those rules. Western claims are almost always filed alongside a California, Minnesota, or North Dakota lawsuit or claim, and the state's statute of limitations controls the timing of that case. Call us before any deadline question is treated as settled. |
| Fees and withdrawal rules | $250 filing fee per claim, refunded if the claim is allowed and paid (TDP Section 6.4; reviewed November 7, 2025 with no change). The fee is kept on a withdrawn claim unless the site was removed from the list after filing, and a resubmitted claim needs a new fee. Offers are valid six months, extendable six months for good cause. 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, with a fee after one year. Withdrawal does not affect the statute of limitations but costs the claim its place in the FIFO queue. Maximum attorney fee is 25% of net recovery after costs (TDP Section 8.4). |
| Claims processor | The trust processes its own claims from Reno: Western Asbestos 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 Second Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization dated November 22, 2002 for Western Asbestos Company, Western MacArthur Co., and MacArthur Co., confirmed January 27, 2004 by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California (Oakland Division, Case No. 02-46284; now administered in the San Francisco Division as Case No. 13-31914). The trust is organized under Nevada law. Current governing documents: Nineteenth 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 (effective for claims submitted on or after June 1, 2026). |
| Last checked | October 18, 2026, against wastrust.com (home, About, Trust Documents, Claims Packet, Policies, FAQ, Trust Representatives, and Contact pages and the 2004 through 2025 notice archives), the Twenty-Second Annual Report and Accounting filed April 28, 2026 (including the Third Amended Matrix and the Claim Report as of December 31, 2025), the Modification to Case Valuation Matrix posted May 28, 2026, the Order Approving Compromises With Settling Insurers entered April 14, 2004, and the California, Minnesota, and North Dakota site lists and the Western ships built and ships repaired lists. |
SCHEDULE OF DISEASES
Western compensates five diseases: mesothelioma, lung cancer, other cancer (laryngeal, esophageal, kidney, colorectal, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia), 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 also sets the floor (10%), the Individual Review cap (1x), the Maximum Value (4x), and the Extraordinary Claim ceiling (8x). The state is the one where the underlying lawsuit was filed. Payments are then multiplied by 51.1% and increased by the year's inflation add-on.
| Disease | CA Base Case | CA Average Value | MN Base Case | MN Average Value | ND Base Case | ND Average Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mesothelioma | $276,479 | $524,025 | $148,678 | $316,250 | $58,544 | $117,087 |
| Lung Cancer | $62,046 | $199,195 | $41,211 | $137,050 | $13,569 | $44,777 |
| Other Cancer | $22,298 | $75,000 | $21,222 | $73,800 | $4,894 | $16,884 |
| Grade I Non-Malignancy | $32,131 | $51,557 | $30,868 | $57,200 | $9,764 | $16,500 |
| Grade II Non-Malignancy | $18,574 | $21,816 | $21,875 | $30,150 | $8,219 | $12,000 |
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 in a traditional trade, and ten years of latency. Multipliers move from there: 0.015 per year of age under 75 (up to 1.4) or over 75 (down to 0.7); 1.3 if living when the lawsuit or claim was filed; 0.8 with no spouse or minor children, 1.5 with minor or dependent children; up to 2.0 each for documented economic loss or medical and funeral expenses above the thresholds; and the site exposure rating, from 0.25 for Very Low to 3.0 for Very High (Matrix Section II). The multipliers are multiplied together, so a living 55-year-old at a High exposure site is 1.3 x 1.3 x 1.5 = 2.535 times the base case, the Matrix's own example. 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
Western is a litigation-style trust. It wants the claim form, trust-approved interrogatories, a litigation declaration, medical records, and the economic and medical loss documentation a tort case would carry, and it rates the exposure site rather than taking exposure as a yes-or-no question.
The claimant must show, by credible and reliable evidence, exposure to asbestos-containing material for which Western is responsible (Matrix Sections I(d) and VII). The trust keeps approved lists: the California On Land Site List (September 2020, about 2,286 entries with an exposure rating for each: 27 Very High, 128 High, 507 Standard, 580 Low, and the rest Very Low), the Minnesota On Land Site List (February 2011, about 1,352 entries, 70 of them Very High, most of those 3M buildings), the North Dakota Site List (March 2009, 14 entries), the Western Ships Built List (February 2024, 824 ships built at Kaiser Richmond Yards 2, 3, and 4, Bethlehem Steel San Francisco, and Pacific Bridge Alameda), and the Western Ships Repaired List (November 2024, 691 repair entries covering 421 ships, mostly at Mare Island and Hunters Point). A worker can submit evidence to add a site or raise its rating. Mesothelioma needs three months at approved Western sites or 10% of total exposure (one to three months gets a reduced value); all other diseases need one year or 25% (Section VII(c)). For a ship, the trust requires proof that Western products were actually installed on that ship and that the worker was in an area where they were present; being aboard during a repair at a Western shipyard counts, but later service on a ship that was once repaired there does not. Longshoremen in Northern California ports are treated as Standard exposure. Household exposure claims must show the worker would have qualified and that the family member's exposure fell in the same period (Section VII(a)(2)). Declarations must come from someone with direct knowledge and must explain the basis for every fact (trust Declaration Policy).
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, including smoking-history multipliers for lung cancer. 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. Asbestosis diagnoses require a pathologist who reviewed the tissue or a physician who examined the patient, with a record-review exception for good cause that caps the claim at the Individual Review limit. The National Cancer Institute explains what mesothelioma is and how it is diagnosed.
Every claim needs a $250 filing fee, refunded when the claim is paid. Claims are processed first-in, first-out (TDP Section 5.3(a)(1)), with Hardship Claims moved ahead (Section 5.5). A complete claim usually gets an offer letter in six to eight weeks, offers last six months (one six-month extension for good cause), and payments go out every six to eight weeks by ACH. 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. The trust's TDP statute of limitations rules are posted only as a scanned image, so we do not restate them here; the timing of the companion state court case is what usually controls.
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 unless a three-person panel agrees to relax the cap (Section VIII). An Extraordinary Claim (Western-only or over 80% Western exposure, extraordinary medical expenses, or exceptionally large special damages) can exceed the Maximum Value up to eight times the Average Value (Section IX). Disputes over rejection, medical condition, or exposure go to arbitration under the trust's ADR Procedures, and the award can never exceed the Matrix value (TDP Section 5.9). Every result is then paid at 51.1% plus the year's inflation add-on.
RATE HISTORY
The Bankruptcy Court approved a revised insurer settlement that set the Initial Payment Percentage at 31.5% by order entered April 14, 2004 (Judge Leslie J. Tchaikovsky, Oakland Division). The trust paid 99% of its pre-petition liquidated claims by December 2005. Since then the trustees have raised the rate five times, each time with the consent of the TAC and the Futures Representative and each time paying previously paid claimants the difference: 34.2% (notice posted April 14, 2006), 40% (August 6, 2007), 44% (February 25, 2010), 48% (October 6, 2014), and 51.1% (June 3, 2019).
Reviews that left the rate unchanged: February 7, 2013 (44%), the September 2017 through May 2018 review (48%), November 2022 through February 2023 (51.1%), and April 11, 2024 (51.1%). The trust also sets a Maximum Annual Payment each year under TDP Section 2.4; for 2026 it is $27,639,842, set at the November 7, 2025 trustees' meeting. The Claim Report as of December 31, 2025 shows 568 claims received, 477 offers issued, and 416 claims paid in 2025 (111 mesothelioma, 67 lung cancer, 16 other cancer, 16 serious asbestosis, 93 Grade I and Enhanced, 113 Grade II; 288 California, 127 Minnesota, 1 North Dakota), and total payments since inception of $2,238,037,573 across trust-processed, pre-petition, and increase payments.
PRODUCTS AND WORK SITES
Western Asbestos Company and its successor Western MacArthur Co. sold, installed, and removed asbestos insulation in Northern California, and MacArthur Co. did the same in Minnesota and North Dakota. The trust answers for asbestos-containing materials they sold, installed, or removed, which is why its lists are built around job sites and ships rather than a product name. Our Western MacArthur company page covers the corporate history.
The California list's Very High exposure sites are the Western Asbestos and Western MacArthur shops and warehouses in San Francisco, Oakland, Hayward, Sacramento, and Stockton; Bay Cities Asbestos Company; Douglass Insulation; Bethlehem Steel's San Francisco shipyard, San Mateo shop, and South San Francisco steel mill; Kaiser Shipyards 2, 3, and 4 in Richmond; Crowley Maritime in Oakland and San Francisco; and the Stockton boatyards (Colberg, Hickinbotham, Pollock-Stockton, Stephens Brothers). The ships repaired list is dominated by Mare Island Naval Shipyard (457 entries) and Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (147). In Minnesota, 70 of the 1,352 listed sites are rated Very High, nearly all of them 3M plants, research buildings, and Chemolite buildings. North Dakota's list is short: power stations (Heskett, Leland Olds, Milton Young), Grand Forks and Minot Air Force Bases, and American Crystal Sugar in Drayton.
The same Northern California or Minnesota history usually supports claims against Johns Manville and the other insulation trusts, and against the three sister Reno trusts (J.T. Thorpe, Thorpe Insulation, and Plant Insulation) that share Western's offices. We handle cases for California and Minnesota clients.
QUESTIONS
As of October 18, 2026, the Western Asbestos Settlement Trust pays 51.1% of a claim's liquidated value. The rate has been 51.1% since June 3, 2019, and the trustees reaffirmed it in February 2023 and on April 11, 2024. Payments made in 2026 also carry a cumulative cost-of-living add-on of 70.7%.
There is no single figure, because Western values claims on a Matrix. A California mesothelioma case starts at a $276,479 base case value and is adjusted for age, living status, dependents, economic and medical loss, and the exposure rating of the site. A base case claim with no adjustments pays about $141,281 at 51.1%, about $241,166 with the 2026 inflation add-on. Claims can run up to four times the $524,025 California Average Value, or eight times for an Extraordinary Claim. Minnesota and North Dakota base cases are $148,678 and $58,544.
The trust is still accepting and paying claims, and it paid 416 of them in 2025. Its statute of limitations rules sit in a TDP the trust posts only as a scanned image, so the safe course is to call us as soon as there is a diagnosis; the timing of the companion California, Minnesota, or North Dakota case usually controls. Every claim needs a $250 filing fee, refunded when the claim is paid.
WHY THRONEBERRY LAW GROUP
Western is a trust where the lawyering changes the number. The same mesothelioma can be worth 0.25 or 3.0 times the base case depending on which listed site the proof lands on, whether the claimant was living when the claim was filed, and whether the economic and medical loss is documented above the thresholds. A firm that files a bare claim form leaves most of that on the table. We match the work history against the California, Minnesota, and North Dakota site lists and the ships built and repaired lists, build the declarations with the foundation the trust's Declaration Policy demands, document the loss figures, and file while the claimant is living when we can, because the 1.3 multiplier and the 25% fee cap both reward getting it right the first time. 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 Western Asbestos Settlement Trust website (wastrust.com): the home, About the Trust, Trust Documents, Claims Packet, Policies, FAQ, Trust Representatives, and Contact pages and the 2004 through 2025 notice archives; the Twenty-Second Annual Report and Accounting, Audited Financial Statements, and Claim Report filed April 28, 2026 in Case No. 13-31914 (Bankr. N.D. Cal.), including 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 Notice of Entry of Order Approving Compromises With Settling Insurers (order entered April 14, 2004, Case No. 02-46284); and the California (September 2020), Minnesota (February 2011), and North Dakota (March 2009) site lists and the Western Ships Built (February 2024) and Ships Repaired (November 2024) lists. The trust's Fifth Amended TDP is posted as an image-only scan and was not read as text. 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.
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If you or a family member worked at a Bay Area shipyard, refinery, or power plant, served on a ship repaired at Mare Island or Hunters Point, or worked at 3M or another Minnesota or North Dakota site, the Western Asbestos 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 Matrix multipliers, 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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