Louisiana Mesothelioma Lawyer: Asbestos Claims, Deadlines & Compensation

If your family is facing a mesothelioma diagnosis in Louisiana, several claim paths may be open: lawsuits against the companies that made and sold the asbestos products that caused the disease, claims against some of the companies that ran the shipyards, refineries, mills, and chemical plants where the exposure happened, claims against the asbestos bankruptcy trusts that were set up to pay asbestos victims, and federal benefits for veterans and federal civilian workers.

Louisiana's filing deadline is short: one year for a diagnosed worker whose asbestos exposure came before July 1, 2024. A 2024 law gives two years for claims that arise after that date. Exactly when the clock starts varies, so to be safe, count one year from the date of diagnosis. If an earlier X-ray, CT scan or screening showed asbestos-related scarring, a Louisiana court may count the year from that earlier finding, so call us right away. After a death, the family's claims have their own deadline: to be safe, count one year from the date of death.

You do not need to know the name of the asbestos product before you call. Many Louisiana cases begin with one sentence: "Dad worked at Avondale," or "He spent thirty years at the refinery in Norco." We reconstruct the exposure history from there.

Was the exposure at a Louisiana shipyard, refinery, mill, or chemical plant?

Louisiana's industrial history is built on shipbuilding along the Mississippi, refining along the river and the Calcasieu, petrochemical plants between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and around Lake Charles, and pulp and paper mills in the north and east. The asbestos trusts' lists hold more than 3,000 Louisiana entries across 340 communities, from 29 trusts, and thousands of our clients worked at Louisiana job sites.

Louisiana worksite	City	Trusts that list it
Avondale Shipyards	Avondale	At least 15, including Johns-Manville. Navy and commercial shipbuilding from the late 1930s until 2014.
Bogalusa paper mill (Gaylord Container, Crown Zellerbach)	Bogalusa	At least 15, including Johns-Manville.
Citgo Lake Charles refinery (Cities Service, CITCON)	Lake Charles	At least 15, including Johns-Manville.
PPG Lake Charles chemical plant	Lake Charles	At least 15, including Johns-Manville.
Exxon Baton Rouge refinery and chemical plant	Baton Rouge	At least 14, including Johns-Manville.
Olin Mathieson Lake Charles chemical plant	Lake Charles	At least 14, including Johns-Manville.
Shell Norco refinery and chemical plant	Norco	At least 13, including Johns-Manville.
Conoco Lake Charles refinery (Continental Oil)	Westlake	At least 13, including Johns-Manville.
Dow Chemical Plaquemine	Plaquemine	At least 12, including Johns-Manville.
Chalmette refinery (Tenneco, Mobil)	Chalmette	At least 11, including Johns-Manville.
Allied Chemical Geismar	Geismar	At least 11, including Johns-Manville.
International Paper Springhill mill	Springhill	At least 11, including Johns-Manville.

Check Louisiana asbestos exposure sites or search the trusts' Louisiana lists.

Not seeing the worksite? That does not mean your family has no claim. Louisiana claims are often built from product-handling reconstruction, coworker information, historical invoices, trust documents, and records from similar shipyards, refineries, mills, and plants in the same parish or industry.

Your legal options after a Louisiana mesothelioma diagnosis

Think in claim paths, not one lawsuit. A Louisiana family may have several paths, each with its own rules and timeline. The order of the trust claims, benefits, and lawsuit is decided case by case.

Asbestos trust claims

Dozens of asbestos product manufacturers filed for bankruptcy and established asbestos trusts that hold billions of dollars set aside for asbestos victims. These trusts pay claims outside of court. You do not have to file a lawsuit to file trust claims, and each trust has its own filing rules and deadlines. We routinely get claims approved by many asbestos trusts. Asbestos trust claims explained.

Product liability lawsuits

Many asbestos product manufacturers are still in business and can be sued directly. Which Louisiana product law applies depends on when the exposure happened: older strict-liability law for exposure before September 1, 1988, and the Louisiana Products Liability Act after. Either way, a central question is whether the company gave adequate warnings. Product liability lawsuits.

Premises liability lawsuits

The owner of a site where a contractor's worker or a visitor was exposed may be responsible for hazards it knew or should have known about and could have prevented. But a worker cannot sue their own employer this way, and a plant owner that hired a contractor for work that was part of its own business can, in some cases, claim the same protection as an employer. Premises liability lawsuits.

Workers' compensation, the federal longshore act, VA, FECA, and Social Security

Many shipyard workers were covered by the federal Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act rather than, or as well as, Louisiana workers' comp. Veterans with asbestos exposure during their service may have VA disability claims, and federal civilian employees have FECA. Some of these programs have repayment rights out of a lawsuit recovery, and Social Security disability is only for claimants under full retirement age. Asbestos Disability Claims.

"Can we choose not to sue?"

Yes. Some Louisiana families pursue only trust claims and federal benefits — no court case. We respect that decision. The trust system and the federal programs were built precisely so that families could recover without a courtroom. If your family does not want a lawsuit, we will not pressure you into one. We will explain what each path can recover and let your family decide.

Uncomfortable with the idea of a lawsuit? So was Clarence Borel. He spent 33 years as an insulator on the Gulf Coast and didn't believe in suing anyone — until he realized his coworkers would die the same way he was dying. His 1969 lawsuit helped establish the product-liability law that protects families today, and the cases that followed it eventually led to the bankruptcy trusts that pay claims now. Read his story.

How long do I have to file a Louisiana mesothelioma claim?

Louisiana gives a diagnosed worker one year to file a personal-injury claim for asbestos exposure that came before July 1, 2024. A 2024 law replaced that one-year period with two years, but only for claims that arise after July 1, 2024, and Louisiana courts treat an asbestos claim as arising during the exposure that caused the disease. Exactly when the clock starts varies, so to be safe, count one year from the date of diagnosis. If an earlier X-ray, CT scan or screening showed asbestos-related scarring, a Louisiana court may count the year from that earlier finding, so call us right away.

After a death, the family's wrongful-death claim and the survival claim (the worker's own claim, carried on by the family) each have at least one year from the date of death, or two years from the injury if that is longer. To be safe, count one year from the date of death.

Louisiana's deadline does not run while a person could not reasonably have known of the claim. But it can start once a person knew, or should have known, enough to look into it, which can be before a final diagnosis. And waiting has its own costs: memories fade, witnesses pass away, and records get lost.

Call 833-4-ASBESTOS

Legal detail: Louisiana filing deadlines

Prescription. Delictual (tort) actions are subject to a two-year liberative prescription that "commences to run from the day that injury or damage is sustained." La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1. Acts 2024, No. 423 enacted article 3493.1 and repealed former article 3492 (one year), effective July 1, 2024, with "prospective application only" to "delictual actions arising after the effective date of this Act." For long-latency asbestos disease, the Louisiana Supreme Court holds that the cause of action arises at the significant tortious exposure, not at diagnosis. Austin v. Abney Mills, Inc., 824 So. 2d 1137 (La. 2002) (adopting the significant-exposure test of Cole v. Celotex Corp., 599 So. 2d 1058 (La. 1992)). On that reasoning, a mesothelioma caused by exposure before July 1, 2024 is governed by the former one-year period; no decision applying Act 423 to a later diagnosis was found.

Contra non valentem. Louisiana's counterpart to the discovery rule suspends prescription while the cause of action is not known or reasonably knowable to the plaintiff. Prescription begins when the plaintiff has actual or constructive knowledge of facts that would lead a reasonable person to inquire, which can come before a diagnosis. See Marin v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 48 So. 3d 234 (La. 2010) (an oilfield contamination case applying the doctrine); Austin (discussing it for asbestos disease).

Wrongful death and survival. The survival action (La. Civ. Code art. 2315.1(A)) and the wrongful-death action (art. 2315.2(B)) each prescribe "one year from the death of the deceased or two years from the day that injury or damage is sustained, whichever is longer" (as amended by Acts 2025, No. 176, effective August 1, 2025). The wrongful-death action arises at death and runs from the death. Taylor v. Giddens, 618 So. 2d 834 (La. 1993); Walls v. American Optical Corp., 740 So. 2d 1262 (La. 1999).

Interruption. Filing suit interrupts prescription; filing in an incompetent court or an improper venue interrupts it only as to defendants served within the prescriptive period, and where the court is competent but the venue improper, prescription is suspended for seven days as to a defendant not served in time. La. Civ. Code art. 3462 (as amended by Acts 2025, No. 250).

Workers' comp. A comp claim for disability from an occupational disease is barred unless filed within one year of the date the disease manifested itself, the worker became disabled by it, and the worker knew or had reasonable grounds to believe it was work-related; a death claim within one year of the death or of the date the dependent had reasonable grounds to believe the death resulted from an occupational disease. La. R.S. 23:1031.1(E), (F). The federal longshore act has its own notice and claim deadlines.

Trial preference. A party 70 or older, or with medical documentation that they are not likely to survive six months, may ask the court for scheduling preference, which the court grants if the interests of justice are served. La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 1573.

Who can be sued in a Louisiana asbestos case?

A Louisiana mesothelioma case usually has several defendants, because the disease is caused by asbestos exposure that often spans years and many products.

Product manufacturers and suppliers

The companies that made and sold the asbestos-containing insulation, gaskets, packing, refractory, joint compound, brake linings, and similar products that workers handled on the job.

Site owners and contractors

A site owner can be responsible to a contractor's worker or a visitor for asbestos hazards it knew or should have known about and failed to address, and a contractor whose crews released asbestos can be responsible to others working nearby. Two limits matter: a worker generally cannot sue their own employer, and a plant owner that hired a contractor for work that was an integral part of its own business can be treated as a "statutory employer" with the same protection, which under the current statute generally requires a written contract recognizing that status.

Asbestos bankruptcy trusts

Companies that filed for bankruptcy and established asbestos trusts no longer face lawsuits, but they pay claims through trust procedures.

Employers

In Louisiana, workers' comp is generally the worker's only remedy against the employer and its officers and co-workers, except for intentional acts, which courts read narrowly. Louisiana has two exceptions that turn on dates:

• Exposure before September 1, 1975. Mesothelioma was not a covered occupational disease under Louisiana workers' comp until then, so a worker whose significant exposure came earlier may be able to sue the employer.
• Exposure before October 1, 1976. Until then, the employer's executive officers were not protected, so claims against them (paid by their insurers) may be possible for earlier exposure, though not the family's wrongful-death claim after a death.

Where the federal longshore act covered the work, as it did for many shipyard workers, its own rules limit claims against the employer.

Legal detail: Louisiana product liability, premises liability, and workers' compensation

Products liability: which law applies depends on when the exposure happened. Louisiana applies the law in effect when the plaintiff's significant asbestos exposures occurred. Cole v. Celotex Corp., 599 So. 2d 1058 (La. 1992). The Louisiana Products Liability Act, La. R.S. 9:2800.51 et seq., took effect September 1, 1988 and does not apply retroactively. Gilboy v. American Tobacco Co., 582 So. 2d 1263 (La. 1991). For earlier exposure, product claims follow pre-LPLA law, in which a product may be unreasonably dangerous per se, in design, in construction, or for failure to warn. Halphen v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp., 484 So. 2d 110 (La. 1986). Where the LPLA applies, it "establishes the exclusive theories of liability for manufacturers" (construction or composition, design, inadequate warning, express warranty). La. R.S. 9:2800.52, 9:2800.54. A manufacturer has no duty to warn a user who already knows or reasonably should know of the danger (La. R.S. 9:2800.57(B)), and may defend on the ground that it did not know and could not have known of the danger in light of then-existing scientific and technical knowledge (La. R.S. 9:2800.59).

Negligence and causation. Louisiana negligence follows the duty-risk analysis. For asbestos, each defendant's product or conduct must have been a substantial factor in causing the disease; it need not be the only one. Rando v. Anco Insulations, Inc., 16 So. 3d 1065 (La. 2009). Louisiana does not apply negligence per se; a statutory violation is a guideline for the duty. Galloway v. State, Dep't of Transp. & Dev., 654 So. 2d 1345 (La. 1995).

Premises liability. An owner or custodian is answerable for damage caused by a defect in a thing only on a showing that it knew or should have known of the defect, that the damage could have been prevented by reasonable care, and that it failed to use that care. La. Civ. Code arts. 2317, 2317.1. A principal is a statutory employer, with the employer's immunity, for work that "is an integral part of or essential to the ability of the principal to generate that individual principal's goods, products, or services." Except where the work was contemplated by a contract between the principal and someone other than the immediate employer, the relationship exists only if a written contract recognizes it, which creates a rebuttable presumption. La. R.S. 23:1061(A) (as amended in 1997; older exposure may be governed by the earlier law).

Workers' compensation exclusivity. Comp is exclusive against the employer "or any principal or any officer, director, stockholder, partner, or employee of such employer or principal," except for intentional acts. La. R.S. 23:1032; Bazley v. Tortorich, 397 So. 2d 475 (La. 1981) (the actor desired the result or knew it was substantially certain to follow).

• Pre-1975 exposure. Mesothelioma was not a covered occupational disease before Acts 1975, No. 583 (effective September 1, 1975), so tort claims against employers for significant earlier exposure are not barred. Austin v. Abney Mills, Inc., 824 So. 2d 1137 (La. 2002); Rando.
• Pre-1976 exposure. Acts 1976, No. 147 (effective October 1, 1976) extended immunity to executive officers and co-employees; it does not apply to claims that arose earlier (Cole), and executive officers' insurers can be sued directly (La. R.S. 22:1269). The wrongful-death action arises at death, so for deaths after October 1, 1976 the officers are immune from it. Walls v. American Optical Corp., 740 So. 2d 1262 (La. 1999).
• Federal longshore act. Where the LHWCA covers the work, compensation is exclusive against the employer (33 U.S.C. § 905(a)).

The employer's repayment rights. Third-party claims are preserved (La. R.S. 23:1101), but the employer or its insurer may intervene and is repaid first out of any judgment (La. R.S. 23:1102, 1103). If the worker settles with a third party without the employer's or insurer's written approval, the worker forfeits future comp, including medical benefits. La. R.S. 23:1102(B).

What compensation can a Louisiana mesothelioma case recover?

Personal-injury compensation

For the diagnosed worker:

• Medical expenses — past and future treatment, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, hospice care. Where health insurance or Medicare paid the bills, recovery of past medical expenses is limited to the amounts actually paid plus copays and deductibles, not the amount billed.
• Lost income and lost earning capacity — what the worker would have earned but for the disease.
• Pain and suffering — the physical pain and emotional toll of mesothelioma.
• Loss of enjoyment of life — what the worker can no longer do.
• Disfigurement and physical impairment.

Louisiana has no cap on these compensatory damages in cases against private companies. While the worker is alive, a spouse and children may also claim their own loss of consortium, service, and society, but not where the exposure came before September 1982, and not against the worker's employer or its officers.

Wrongful-death and survival compensation

Louisiana provides two separate family claims when a worker has passed:

• The survival action — the worker's own claim, carried on by the family: pain, suffering, medical expenses, and lost wages from the injury until death.
• The wrongful death action — the family's own losses from the death: loss of love, companionship, and support.

The claims belong first to the spouse and children; if there are none, to the parents; then to brothers and sisters; then to grandparents. Children and siblings given in adoption are included.

Punitive damages are allowed in Louisiana only where a statute provides for them. For asbestos cases, the one that matters is a former law that allowed them for reckless handling of hazardous substances between September 4, 1984 and April 16, 1996, against companies that actually stored, handled, or transported the asbestos. Courts have refused them where the conduct or the exposure that caused the disease came before 1984.

Legal detail: Louisiana damages and wrongful death

No statutory cap on compensatory damages in personal-injury or wrongful-death actions against private defendants. The $500,000 general damages cap in suits against the state, its agencies, and political subdivisions (La. R.S. 13:5106) and the medical malpractice cap (La. R.S. 40:1231.1 et seq.) do not apply to ordinary asbestos cases.

Past medical expenses. Where a health insurer or Medicare paid a contracted provider, the claimant's recovery "is limited to the amount actually paid ... and any applicable cost sharing amounts paid or owed by the claimant, and not the amount billed"; similar rules apply to Medicaid and comp payments, and the jury is told both the amounts billed and paid. La. R.S. 9:2800.27 (as amended by Acts 2025, No. 466, for suits filed on or after January 1, 2026). The amount of liability insurance coverage generally is not communicated to the jury. La. Code Evid. art. 411.

Consortium. Damages for loss of consortium, service, and society are recoverable by the same categories of persons who would have a wrongful-death claim. La. Civ. Code art. 2315(B). Because that right was added by Acts 1982, No. 202, a spouse's pre-death consortium claim is not available against conduct before its September 1982 effective date, and the employer and its executive officers are immune from it. Landry v. Avondale Indus., Inc., 864 So. 2d 117 (La. 2003).

Survival and wrongful death. The survival action "comes into existence simultaneously with the existence of the tort and is transmitted to beneficiaries upon the victim's death," and the wrongful-death action arises at death and compensates the beneficiaries' own losses; they are separate and distinct. Walls v. American Optical Corp., 740 So. 2d 1262 (La. 1999); Taylor v. Giddens, 618 So. 2d 834 (La. 1993). Beneficiary classes: La. Civ. Code arts. 2315.1(A), 2315.2(A); children and siblings given in adoption, arts. 2315.1(D)(2), 2315.2(D)(2).

Punitive damages. Exemplary damages are available only where authorized by statute. Former La. Civ. Code art. 2315.3 (Acts 1984, No. 335, effective September 4, 1984; repealed by Acts 1996, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 2, effective April 16, 1996) allowed them where injuries were caused by wanton or reckless disregard for public safety in the storage, handling, or transportation of hazardous or toxic substances.

• Only parties "directly engaged in the storage, handling, or transportation of a hazardous substance, who actually possess or control that substance" may be liable, not alleged co-conspirators. Ross v. Conoco, Inc., 828 So. 2d 546 (La. 2002).
• It does not apply to conduct before September 4, 1984, even where the death came later. Anderson v. Avondale Indus., Inc., 798 So. 2d 93 (La. 2001); see Bulot v. Intracoastal Tubular Servs., Inc., 730 So. 2d 1012 (La. App. 4 Cir. 1999) (injury-producing exposure before 1984).
• A Louisiana court may not award punitive damages unless they are authorized by the law of the state where the conduct occurred and by the law of the state where the injury occurred or the defendant was domiciled, or by the laws of both the injury state and the domicile state. La. Civ. Code art. 3546. So another state's punitive-damages law can sometimes apply.

The current article 2315.3 concerns child sexual abuse materials; articles 2315.4 (intoxicated defendants) and 2315.7 (criminal sexual activity during childhood) are other narrow exceptions.

What evidence do we need to prove a Louisiana asbestos case?

You do not need to gather everything before calling. A diagnosis and a starting point on where the work was done is enough to begin. We build out the rest.

Evidence	Why it helps	What if you do not have it?
Mesothelioma diagnosis (pathology report)	Confirms the disease and the type of mesothelioma.	The treating hospital has it. We can request it with your signed release.
Work history	Identifies which refineries, shipyards, mills, or plants were involved, and which trades.	A conversation with you and family members usually rebuilds the work history. Old W-2s and Social Security records can help but are not required upfront.
Military records (if applicable)	Shows where and when the veteran served; a VA claim also needs a description of the in-service asbestos exposure and a medical link.	The DD-214 is most useful. If lost, we can request it from the National Personnel Records Center.
Names of coworkers	Coworkers often remember the specific products handled and the trades around them.	Your spouse and adult children often remember names you have forgotten. We also have product-identification databases for major Louisiana sites.
Old photographs of the worker on the job	Sometimes shows products, work locations, or PPE that supports the case.	Not required. Most cases have none.
Union records, pension records	Confirm employer, dates, and trade — useful for trust filings.	The union halls and pension funds keep records. We can request what is needed.

You may have most of these. You may have none. Either way, call. We have built cases for Louisiana families starting from nothing more than "Dad worked at Avondale in the seventies." Our Louisiana database does most of the heavy lifting on which products were at which sites.

How does Louisiana divide responsibility when many asbestos companies were involved?

Which fault rules apply depends on when the exposure happened, because Louisiana applies the law in effect during the exposure that caused the disease (for the family's wrongful-death claim, the law at the time of death).

Under the current rules, each company pays only its own share of fault, and the jury assigns fault to everyone who contributed, including companies not in the lawsuit, bankrupt companies, and the worker's employer. Since January 1, 2026, a person found 51 percent or more at fault for their own injury recovers nothing, and a smaller share reduces the award. Companies that conspired to commit an intentional or willful act are answerable together, but only on proof of that agreement.

Where the exposure came before August 1, 1980, older rules apply: the companies at fault were answerable together, and each settlement with a company reduces the award by that company's share. Either way, settlements and the bankrupt companies' share can affect what is recovered from the companies that remain.

Legal detail: comparative fault, solidarity, and settlement credits

Comparative fault. The fault of "all persons causing or contributing to the injury" is quantified, "regardless of whether the person is a party to the action or a nonparty, and regardless of the person's insolvency, ability to pay, immunity by statute." La. Civ. Code art. 2323(A)(1). Effective January 1, 2026, a claimant whose negligence is "equal to or greater than fifty-one percent" recovers nothing; less reduces the award proportionally. Art. 2323(A)(2) (Acts 2025, No. 15). A claim against an intentional tortfeasor is not reduced. Art. 2323(C). See Watson v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Ins. Co., 469 So. 2d 967 (La. 1985) (factors for allocating fault); Zimko v. American Cyanamid, 905 So. 2d 465 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2005) (fault allocated to an immune employer).

Solidarity. "He who conspires with another person to commit an intentional or willful act is answerable, in solido"; otherwise liability is joint and divisible, and a joint tortfeasor is not liable for more than its own degree of fault. La. Civ. Code art. 2324(A), (B) (as amended by Acts 1996, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 3).

Older exposure. Under Cole v. Celotex Corp., 599 So. 2d 1058 (La. 1992), where the significant exposures occurred before the Comparative Fault Law took effect on August 1, 1980, pre-Act law applies: contributory negligence and solidary liability, with the plaintiff's recovery against remaining defendants reduced by the virile share of each released solidary obligor (in Cole, eleven released manufacturers among twenty virile shares reduced each award by 11/20). See La. Civ. Code art. 1804. The wrongful-death action is governed by the law in effect at death. Walls v. American Optical Corp., 740 So. 2d 1262 (La. 1999).

How trust claims, lawsuits, and benefits can work together

Many Louisiana families recover from more than one source. Some must be coordinated, because a few programs carry offsets or repayment rules, and the order of filings is decided case by case.

Source	What it provides	How it interacts with other recoveries
Asbestos trust claims	Payments from the bankruptcy trusts of asbestos manufacturers, outside court	Bankrupt companies' share of fault and settlements can reduce what is recovered from the remaining defendants
Civil lawsuit	Compensatory damages, and punitive damages where a statute allows them	Workers' comp, the federal longshore act and FECA have repayment rights out of the recovery
VA disability compensation	Monthly benefits and health care for veterans with in-service exposure	Not reduced by a lawsuit or trust recovery; VA and FECA benefits for the same disease generally require an election
FECA	Benefits for federal civilian employees	Repayment out of any third-party recovery
Workers' comp and the federal longshore act	Benefits for the worker's own employment	The employer is repaid from a third-party recovery, and a settlement made without the required written approval (or, under the longshore act, without notice to the employer) can end future benefits
Social Security disability	Monthly benefits for claimants under full retirement age	Can be reduced by workers' comp

Louisiana shipyard, Navy, and federal-facility exposure

Avondale Shipyards. Avondale, on the west bank of the Mississippi just upriver from New Orleans in Jefferson Parish, built Navy auxiliary ships, destroyer escorts, container ships, oceanographic vessels, and commercial vessels from the late 1930s until 2014, and overhauled Navy ships. Avondale's own workers were often covered by the federal longshore act, which is exclusive against the employer and has its own rules: a settlement with a third party for less than the compensation due needs the prior written approval of the employer and its insurer, accepting compensation under an award can assign the worker's third-party claim to the employer after six months unless the worker sues, and the employer gets a credit for the worker's net recovery (33 U.S.C. § 933(b), (f), (g)). Sailors, contractors' workers, and others aboard ships at Avondale were not its employees. Because much of Avondale's work was done under Navy contracts, Avondale and the makers of Navy equipment often raise the federal government-contractor defense, which requires reasonably precise specifications approved by the United States, conformity with them, and a warning to the government of dangers known to the supplier but not to the government (Boyle v. United Technologies Corp., 487 U.S. 500 (1988)); for a failure-to-warn claim, courts ask whether the government itself decided what warnings and safety measures to use. Such cases are often removed to federal court, which decides where the case is heard, not whether the defense succeeds (Latiolais v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc., 951 F.3d 286 (5th Cir. 2020) (en banc), a Navy machinist's case over a ship overhaul at Avondale).

Federal installations. Louisiana's federal sites matter mostly for benefits. Federal installations are not sued as premises owners; a federal civilian employee's remedy against the United States is FECA, and a household member's own disease is a separate claim, and any claim against the United States goes through the Federal Tort Claims Act, which requires a written claim to the agency within two years and has its own exceptions.

• Barksdale Air Force Base, Bossier City — home of Air Force Global Strike Command since 2009.
• Fort Polk, Vernon Parish — the Army post was renamed Fort Johnson in 2023 and Fort Polk again in 2025.
• NAS Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, Belle Chasse — Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Louisiana Air National Guard units.
• VA Medical Centers in New Orleans, Shreveport, and Alexandria; their civilian staff are federal employees under FECA.

For veterans and federal employees:

• VA service-connected disability for veterans whose military duties exposed them to asbestos, such as work around ship boilers, engine rooms, insulation, or brakes; the claim needs a described in-service exposure and a medical link.
• FECA for federal civilian employees, with repayment out of any third-party recovery; VA and FECA benefits for the same disease generally require an election. Active-duty service members cannot sue the United States for service injuries.
• Social Security disability for claimants under full retirement age whose mesothelioma prevents them from working.

What happens after you call?

A free case review is a conversation, not a commitment to file a lawsuit.

1. First call. We listen. You tell us what happened — the diagnosis, the worksite, the worker's career. We answer your initial questions. No cost.
2. Records review. With your signed authorization, we request the pathology, hospital, employment, military, and union records needed. You do not gather them.
3. Exposure reconstruction. We check the work history against the trusts' Louisiana worksite lists to identify likely products, companies, and trusts.
4. Strategy meeting. We explain which claim paths are open, what each is likely to involve, and what they may recover. You decide what to pursue. No fee unless we recover. Contingent fee.
5. We prepare the claims. Given Louisiana's short deadline, we start right away; the order of the trust claims, benefits, and lawsuit is decided case by case.
6. Lawsuit filed (if you choose to file). The case is filed in a parish where a defendant is based or where the exposure or injury happened, or in federal court. Discovery often proceeds largely by phone and video for the family.
7. Federal benefits. We coordinate VA, FECA, workers' comp, longshore, and Social Security claims, including the offsets and repayment rules some of them carry.

In Louisiana, the losing side usually pays the court costs, and a family that turns down a defendant's offer of judgment and then wins a judgment at least 25 percent smaller pays the defendant's costs incurred after the offer (not its attorney fees). We discuss every settlement offer with the family before anyone responds to it.

Call 833-4-ASBESTOS

How Louisiana's laws may work in practice

Pierre is a 76-year-old retired office manager from Marrero. From 1968 to 1972, he served in the U.S. Navy as a machinist's mate. In 1971 his ship spent several months in overhaul at Avondale Shipyards, where shipyard insulators and pipefitters tore out and replaced pipe insulation, boiler lagging, and gaskets around him in the engine room while he stood watch and helped with repairs. After the Navy, he worked for thirty years in an office.

He had no significant health complaints until early 2026, when he developed chest pain, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Imaging at the Southeast Louisiana VA Healthcare System in New Orleans and a pericardial biopsy in March 2026 confirmed pericardial mesothelioma of the epithelioid histological subtype — a rare presentation of the disease affecting the lining around the heart.

Pierre and his family call our firm two weeks after diagnosis. Louisiana's one-year deadline for his claim runs to March 2027, and we file well before it.

His claims, coordinated case by case with our trial team:

• The product makers and sellers. The companies that made and sold the pipe insulation, boiler lagging, gaskets, and packing used during the overhaul.
• Avondale. Avondale was not Pierre's employer, so he can bring a negligence claim against it for failing to warn and protect the sailors aboard. Avondale can move the case to federal court and will likely argue that the Navy, not Avondale, controlled the work and the safety measures aboard.
• Trust claims. Avondale Shipyards appears on the lists of at least 15 trusts, including Johns-Manville.
• VA disability. His in-service exposure in the engine room supports a VA service-connected disability claim. He cannot sue the Navy itself.

The case is filed in Jefferson Parish, where the overhaul took place, and because Pierre is over 70, we can ask the court to set an early trial date. Because his exposure came before 1982, his wife has no separate claim for her own loss of his companionship while he is alive. If Pierre dies before the case ends, his family can carry on his own claim (the survival action) and bring their own wrongful-death claim, each within one year of his death. As part of our representation, we offer free asbestos health screening to family members of every client who may have been exposed at home. The screening is a chest X-ray read by a B-reader, with a CT scan if needed; it looks for asbestos-related changes in the lungs and isn't a diagnosis or a reliable way to find mesothelioma early.

Legal analysis of this hypothetical

Prescription. Pierre's significant exposure was in 1971, so his claim arose before Act 423's July 1, 2024 effective date (Austin v. Abney Mills, Inc., 824 So. 2d 1137 (La. 2002)), and the former one-year period applies; contra non valentem suspended it until the claim was reasonably knowable. Counting from the March 2026 diagnosis, the safe deadline is March 2027.

Applicable law. Because the significant exposure occurred in 1971, pre-1980 fault law and pre-LPLA products law govern (Cole v. Celotex Corp., 599 So. 2d 1058 (La. 1992); Gilboy v. American Tobacco Co., 582 So. 2d 1263 (La. 1991)). The defendants found at fault are solidarily liable, and the award is reduced by the virile share of each released defendant (Cole). Product claims against the manufacturers proceed under Halphen v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp., 484 So. 2d 110 (La. 1986), principally for failure to warn; each defendant's product must have been a substantial factor (Rando v. Anco Insulations, Inc., 16 So. 3d 1065 (La. 2009)).

Avondale. Pierre was a sailor, not an Avondale employee, so neither workers' comp nor the longshore act bars his negligence claim against Avondale for failing to warn and protect those aboard during the overhaul. Avondale is entitled to remove the case under 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1) and to assert the government-contractor defense of Boyle v. United Technologies Corp., 487 U.S. 500 (1988), Latiolais v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc., 951 F.3d 286 (5th Cir. 2020) (en banc); removal does not decide the defense, which for a failure-to-warn claim turns on whether the Navy itself made the decisions about warnings and protection.

Venue and trial. Jefferson Parish, where the wrongful conduct occurred (La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 74), subject to removal. Trial preference on motion for a party 70 or older (art. 1573).

Damages. No cap on compensatory damages; past medical expenses paid by insurers or Medicare limited to amounts paid plus cost sharing (La. R.S. 9:2800.27). No punitive damages: his exposure preceded former art. 2315.3's September 4, 1984 effective date (Anderson v. Avondale Indus., Inc., 798 So. 2d 93 (La. 2001)). No pre-death consortium claim for his wife: the 1971 exposure predates the 1982 amendment to art. 2315 (Landry v. Avondale Indus., Inc., 864 So. 2d 117 (La. 2003)).

Survival and wrongful death. If Pierre dies, the survival action (art. 2315.1) carries his own damages to his wife and children, and the wrongful-death action (art. 2315.2) compensates their own losses, each within one year of death (or two years from the injury, if longer). The wrongful-death action is governed by the law in effect at death (Walls v. American Optical Corp., 740 So. 2d 1262 (La. 1999)).

Federal benefits. VA service-connected disability for the described engine-room exposure; a civil or trust recovery does not reduce VA disability. Feres v. United States, 340 U.S. 135 (1950), bars a suit against the United States for his service injury. No SSDI: he is past full retirement age.

This example is general. Every case depends on the diagnosis, exposure history, dates, defendants, applicable law, and available evidence.

Why families choose our firm

Our firm has recovered over $400 million for asbestos clients nationally. For Louisiana families, the practical advantages are:

• Louisiana worksite records. The asbestos trusts' lists hold more than 3,000 Louisiana entries across 340 communities, from 29 trusts, including Avondale Shipyards, the Bogalusa mill, and the Citgo and PPG plants at Lake Charles (at least 15 trusts each), all including Johns-Manville. Thousands of our clients worked at Louisiana job sites.
• Louisiana law. Claims built around Louisiana's short deadline and the rules that turn on when the exposure happened: the 1975 and 1976 employer rules, the 1980 fault rules, the 1984–1996 punitive-damages window, and the 1988 products act.
• Filing during life. Filing while the worker is alive lets the worker testify about the exposure in their own words, and Louisiana's one-year deadline leaves little time. Call as soon as possible after diagnosis.
• Benefits coordination. VA, FECA, workers' comp, longshore, and Social Security disability coordinated case by case with the civil case and trust claims, including the offsets and repayment rules some of them carry.
• Trust claims. We routinely get claims approved by many asbestos trusts. Even where the worksite is not on a trust's approved list, product-handling reconstruction can support a claim.
• Remote case handling. We meet by phone, video, or at your home. You do not need to come to our office. We have handled cases for Louisiana families who have moved out of state in retirement.
• No fee unless we recover. Contingent fee.

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