Nevada Mesothelioma Lawyer | Asbestos Claims, Lawsuits & Deadlines

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related cancer in Nevada, your family may have several types of claims at the same time — lawsuits against the companies that made and sold asbestos products, sometimes claims against the owners of the sites where exposure happened, claims against the bankruptcy trusts that companies like Johns-Manville and Owens Corning set up to pay asbestos victims, and benefits for veterans, Nevada Test Site workers, and federal civilian employees.

Nevada gives a diagnosed worker two years to file a personal-injury case. Exactly when the clock starts varies, so to be safe, count from the date of diagnosis. Families calling after a death have two years from the date of death to file a wrongful-death claim. The safest step is to call as soon as possible after diagnosis — evidence and witnesses become harder to find as time passes.

You do not need to know the name of the asbestos product before you call. You do not need old employment records in hand. Many strong Nevada cases begin with one sentence: "Dad worked at TIMET in Henderson." We reconstruct the exposure from there, starting with the 322 Nevada entries on the asbestos trusts' lists.

You don't need the product names or old records. No fee unless we recover compensation for your family.

Call 833-4-ASBESTOS Request a review

Quick answers

How long do we have to file?	Two years for the worker's personal-injury case. Exactly when the clock starts varies, so to be safe, count from the date of diagnosis. After a death, the family's wrongful-death claim has two years from the date of death, and if the worker dies before his own deadline runs, the estate's claim for his injuries keeps that deadline (or one year from the death, if that is later). Call as soon as possible.
Does a claim always mean filing a lawsuit?	No. Some Nevada families recover compensation from asbestos bankruptcy trusts and benefit programs without filing a court case. We will not pressure you into a lawsuit you don't want.
Who may be responsible?	The companies that made, sold, or installed asbestos products; in some cases the owners of the sites where exposure happened; and the bankruptcy trusts set up to handle asbestos claims.
What compensation may be available?	Medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and family losses. Punitive damages are possible with clear and convincing proof; Nevada's cap on them does not apply to claims against the makers, distributors and sellers of defective products.
What evidence do we need?	A diagnosis, a rough sense of where the worker worked, and any names of coworkers, products, or job sites you can recall. We do the rest.
Can an adult child or spouse call?	Yes. Most calls we receive come from adult children or spouses, not from the diagnosed worker.
Do I have to come to your office?	No. We handle Nevada cases by phone, video, and home visits when needed. You do not have to travel.

“I started this firm after learning that the cancers that killed my father and grandparents were caused by asbestos, something we did not realize until it was too late to hold anyone accountable. That experience is why we built this site: so that no other family misses their chance to ask the questions, hear the options, and decide for themselves what to do.”

Justinian C. Lane, Founding Partner

Was the exposure at a Nevada power plant, Henderson chemical site, or federal facility?

Nevada's asbestos exposure history is anchored by four overlapping clusters: the electric utility network run by Nevada Power, Sierra Pacific Power, and NV Energy; the Henderson industrial complex built on the WWII-era Basic Magnesium site (which produced 30 percent of U.S. WWII magnesium and evolved into Titanium Metals, Stauffer Chemical, Kerr-McGee Chemical, U.S. Lime, and Pioneer Chlor Alkali); the post-1955 Las Vegas hotel and casino construction boom; and a substantial federal cluster anchored by the Nevada Test Site at Mercury (100 atmospheric and 828 underground nuclear weapons tests from 1951 to 1992), Nellis AFB, Creech AFB, Naval Air Station Fallon, and Hawthorne Army Depot.

The asbestos trusts' lists hold 322 Nevada entries across 49 communities, from 22 asbestos trusts. More than a dozen of our clients worked at Nevada job sites.

Nevada worksite	City	Why it matters
Mohave Generating Station (Southern California Edison)	Laughlin	Coal-fired plant serving the Southwest grid. At least 7 trusts, including Johns-Manville.
Reid Gardner Station (Nevada Power)	Moapa	Coal-fired generating station. At least 7 trusts, including Johns-Manville.
Stauffer Chemical	Henderson	Chemical operations on the wartime Basic Magnesium site. At least 6 trusts, including Johns-Manville.
Titanium Metals (TIMET)	Henderson	Titanium producer on the Basic Magnesium site since 1950. At least 6 trusts, including Johns-Manville.
Fort Churchill Station (Sierra Pacific Power)	Yerington	Northern Nevada generating station. At least 6 trusts, including Johns-Manville.
Clark Station (Nevada Power)	Las Vegas	Las Vegas generating station. At least 5 trusts, including Johns-Manville.
Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot	Hawthorne	Ordnance depot, later the Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant. At least 5 trusts, including Johns-Manville.
MGM Grand Hotel and Stardust Hotel & Casino	Las Vegas	Strip construction and building systems. At least 5 trusts each, including Johns-Manville.
U.S. Gypsum plant	Empire	Gypsum mining and wallboard. At least 4 trusts, including Johns-Manville.
American Potash & Chemical (Kerr-McGee)	Henderson	Chemical processing in the Henderson complex. At least 4 trusts, including Johns-Manville.
Nevada Test Site	Mercury	DOE nuclear test site (tests 1951–1992). At least 4 trusts, including Johns-Manville; contractor workers may also have EEOICPA claims.

Check Nevada asbestos exposure sites

Not seeing the worksite? That does not mean your family has no claim. Many successful claims are built from product-handling reconstruction, coworker information, historical invoices, trust documents, and records from similar worksites.

Your legal options after a Nevada mesothelioma diagnosis

A Nevada mesothelioma case is rarely one claim. It usually combines several paths, and the right combination depends on where the work happened, when it happened, and which companies are still in business.

Asbestos trust claims

Dozens of asbestos manufacturers filed for bankruptcy and set up asbestos trusts to pay current and future victims. These trusts hold billions of dollars set aside for asbestos victims. Trust claims are paperwork filed with each trust, not lawsuits. Whether to file them before, alongside, or after a lawsuit depends on the case, and we decide it with the family. We routinely get claims approved by many asbestos trusts, including for power-plant workers, Henderson chemical and metals workers, U.S. Gypsum Empire workers, Nevada Test Site workers, and Las Vegas construction tradespeople. You can search the asbestos trusts' Nevada lists. Learn how trust claims work.

Product liability lawsuits

Companies still in business that made, sold, or distributed asbestos products can be sued directly. Nevada's product-liability rules are explained in the liability section below. Learn how product liability cases work.

Premises liability lawsuits

The owners of the sites where asbestos exposure happened can sometimes be sued. A Nevada property owner owes a contractor's employee reasonable care, but whether a premises claim works depends on who controlled the work and the area, and a site owner may be immune as the worker's "statutory employer" under workers' compensation law. Learn how premises cases work.

Benefit programs can run alongside the civil case and the trust claims:

Nevada workers' compensation for occupational disease, with its own short deadlines: written notice to the employer within 7 days and a claim within 90 days after learning of the disability and its link to work (late filings can sometimes be excused), and asbestos claims are barred after one year
EEOICPA (Part E) for Nevada Test Site contractor employees
VA service-connected disability for veterans — the VA has no automatic presumption for asbestos diseases, but it treats in-service asbestos exposure as likely for many Navy ratings; a claim still needs a diagnosis and a doctor's opinion linking the disease to service
FECA for federal civilian employees at Nellis AFB, Creech AFB, NAS Fallon, and other federal installations
Social Security disability for workers under full retirement age who are too sick to work

These benefits interact with each other and with a civil recovery. A civil or trust recovery doesn't reduce VA disability. FECA and workers' compensation have repayment rights against a recovery from the companies that made the products, and workers' compensation can offset Social Security disability. VA and FECA benefits for the same disease generally require an election, and EEOICPA Part E benefits are reduced by lawsuit and trust recoveries. Learn about asbestos disability claims.

"Can we choose not to sue?"

Yes. Some Nevada families pursue only the trust system and the federal benefit programs — no lawsuit, no deposition, no courtroom. We respect that decision and will tell you honestly when the trust-and-benefits path alone makes sense for your family. We will not pressure you into a court case you do not want.

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 Nevada mesothelioma claim?

Nevada gives a diagnosed worker two years to file a personal-injury case. Because mesothelioma typically appears 20 to 50 years after the workplace exposures that caused it, the clock does not start at the long-ago job. Nevada starts it when the worker knew, or should have known, facts that would lead a reasonable person to look into whether someone caused the illness. Exactly when the clock starts varies, so to be safe, count from the date of diagnosis. If an earlier X-ray, CT scan or screening showed asbestos-related scarring, a Nevada court may count the two years from that earlier finding, so call us right away.

If your loved one has already passed away, a separate two-year window applies to the family's wrongful-death claim, running from the date of death. If the worker dies before his own deadline runs, the estate's claim for his injuries keeps that deadline, or one year from the death if that is later.

Filing while the worker is living lets the worker testify about the products and conditions, which is often the strongest evidence in the case.

Call 833-4-ASBESTOS — even one phone call helps us calculate the deadlines for your situation.

Legal detail: Nevada filing deadlines

Nevada applies a two-year statute of limitations to actions for personal injury or death caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 11.190(4)(e). The statute contains no accrual language, but the Nevada Supreme Court applies the discovery rule to it, including in latent toxic-exposure cases: the period is tolled until the plaintiff is on inquiry notice, meaning the plaintiff knows or should know facts that would lead an ordinarily prudent person to investigate, which "need only extend to the plaintiff's general belief that someone's negligence may have caused his or her injury." Adkins v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., 140 Nev., Adv. Op. 48, 554 P.3d 212 (2024) (quoting Winn v. Sunrise Hosp. & Med. Ctr., 128 Nev. 246, 277 P.3d 458 (2012)); Petersen v. Bruen, 106 Nev. 271, 792 P.2d 18 (1990); Massey v. Litton, 99 Nev. 723, 669 P.2d 248 (1983). No Nevada decision addresses whether an earlier asbestosis or pleural finding starts the clock for a later mesothelioma.

Wrongful death. The same two-year period applies to the death claim, which accrues at death. § 11.190(4)(e).

Survival. If the worker dies before the period runs, the estate may sue within the remaining period or within one year after death, whichever is later. § 11.310(1).

Repose. Nevada's statute of repose for improvements to real property is ten years after substantial completion (§ 11.202(1), as amended in 2019). It protects owners, occupiers, and those who designed or built the improvement, so it can bar premises or contractor claims about asbestos built into a structure, but it does not apply to claims "on account of a defect in a product" (§ 11.202(3)(b)(2)) or to fraud in causing a deficiency (§ 11.202(2)).

Workers' compensation. Written notice to the employer is due within 7 days, and a claim to the insurer within 90 days, after the employee knows of the disability and its relationship to the employment (§§ 617.342, 617.344; a dependent has one year after death); a missed notice or claim bars compensation unless the insurer excuses it for listed reasons (§ 617.346). An asbestos claim is also barred unless filed within one year after the disability or death and within one year after the claimant knew or should have known of the link to the employment (§ 617.460(2)). If the notice is filed after the employment ended, the disease is presumed, subject to rebuttal, not to have arisen from that employment (§ 617.358(2)).

Who can be sued in a Nevada asbestos case?

A Nevada mesothelioma case usually names the companies that made and sold the asbestos products, and sometimes the owners of the sites where the exposure happened. Bankrupt companies are paid through their trusts.

Product manufacturers and suppliers

The companies that designed, manufactured, distributed, and sold asbestos-containing insulation, gaskets, packing, refractory products, joint compound, brakes, and industrial products can be sued in strict products liability and negligence. The family must show that the worker was exposed to each company's product regularly, over an extended period, and close to where he worked.

Premises owners and site operators

Owners of Nevada power plants, chemical plants, and construction sites can sometimes be sued for failing to use reasonable care. A contractor's employee is the owner's invitee, owed reasonable care, and an obvious hazard does not automatically end that duty. But Nevada imposes no special duty on owners for the risks of a contractor's own work, and owners can be immune as "statutory employers". Federal installations are not ordinary premises defendants: a federal civilian employee's remedy against the United States is FECA.

Asbestos bankruptcy trusts

Manufacturers including Johns-Manville, Owens Corning, A.P. Green, Eagle-Picher, Combustion Engineering, Fibreboard, Pittsburgh Corning, Babcock & Wilcox, and NARCO filed for bankruptcy and set up trusts to pay current and future asbestos victims. Twenty-two asbestos trusts' lists include Nevada sites.

Employers

In most cases, Nevada workers cannot sue their own employer for asbestos disease: Nevada's occupational-disease law is the exclusive remedy against the employer. But most asbestos cases are against the manufacturers whose products the employer bought, not against the employer itself.

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

Strict products liability. Nevada adopted strict products liability under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A. Ginnis v. Mapes Hotel Corp., 86 Nev. 408, 470 P.2d 135 (1970). The comparative-negligence statute does not reduce a strict-liability recovery (Young's Mach. Co. v. Long, 100 Nev. 692, 692 P.2d 24 (1984)), but assumption of risk is a defense to strict products liability where the plaintiff actually knew and appreciated the danger, voluntarily encountered it, and did so unreasonably. Cent. Tel. Co. v. Fixtures Mfg. Corp., 103 Nev. 298, 738 P.2d 510 (1987).

Causation. In Holcomb v. Georgia Pacific, LLC, 128 Nev. 614, 289 P.3d 188 (2012), the Nevada Supreme Court adopted the Lohrmann "frequency, regularity, proximity" test for mesothelioma: the plaintiff must show exposure to the defendant's product "on a regular basis over some extended period of time" and "in proximity to where the plaintiff actually worked". The court rejected the "each and every exposure" approach, reversed summary judgment for three joint-compound makers, and affirmed it for an asbestos supplier whose fiber wasn't tied to products the decedent used.

Premises liability. The open and obvious nature of a danger "does not automatically relieve a landowner from the general duty of reasonable care"; it bears on whether reasonable care was used. Foster v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 128 Nev. 773, 291 P.3d 150 (2012). "An employee of a contractor is an invitee of the owner to whom the owner owes a duty to exercise reasonable care." Sierra Pac. Power Co. v. Rinehart, 99 Nev. 557, 665 P.2d 270 (1983). Rinehart found no duty there because the danger was obvious (a ground Foster later limited), held that Nevada's occupational safety act creates no civil remedy, and rejected a nondelegable "peculiar risk" duty. A lessee who kept possession and control of the area was liable to a contractor's employee in Karadanis v. Newcomb, 101 Nev. 196, 698 P.2d 872 (1985). In a mesothelioma case, a Nevada trial court granted mine owners summary judgment relying on Rinehart; the federal court, remanding the case, found that the no-duty rule was not well settled. Knutson v. Allis-Chalmers Corp., 358 F. Supp. 2d 983 (D. Nev. 2005).

Workers' compensation exclusivity. Occupational-disease remedies are exclusive against the employer (Nev. Rev. Stat. § 617.017; accidents, § 616A.020), and "disease related to asbestos" includes mesothelioma (§ 617.065). An employer's intentional tort falls outside the act (Barjesteh v. Faye's Pub, Inc., 106 Nev. 120, 787 P.2d 405 (1990)), but only where the employer "deliberately and specifically intended to injure" the worker. Conway v. Circus Circus Casinos, Inc., 116 Nev. 870, 8 P.3d 837 (2000). Comp is payable for asbestos disease only after at least one year of harmful exposure in Nevada covered employment (§ 617.460(4)).

Statutory employers. Contractors, subcontractors and their employees are deemed employees of the principal contractor (§ 616A.210(1); for occupational disease, § 617.100), except for an independent enterprise not in the same trade (§§ 616B.603, 617.175). A contractor is a statutory employee only if the work is the kind normally done by the principal's own employees; major or specialized repairs fall outside that test. Meers v. Haughton Elevator, 101 Nev. 283, 701 P.2d 1006 (1985); D & D Tire, Inc. v. Ouellette, 131 Nev. 462, 352 P.3d 32 (2015). The rule rarely protects product manufacturers, but it can protect a site owner or general contractor sued by a contractor's employee.

Third-party actions and the comp lien. A worker receiving comp may sue third parties, but the insurer is subrogated and has a lien on the total recovery; since 2025 its recovery is limited to the lesser of the lien or one-third of the total recovery, reduced by half of the reasonable costs. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 616C.215(2), (5), (7). The worker must notify the insurer in writing before suing (§ 616C.215(8)), and in a third-party trial the jury hears the amount of comp payments and is told not to deduct them (§ 616C.215(11)).

Federal installations. For a federal civilian employee, FECA is the United States' exclusive liability (5 U.S.C. § 8116(c)). Contractor staff at federal sites, such as Nevada Test Site contractor employees, are covered by state workers' compensation and, for DOE sites, EEOICPA Part E.

What compensation can a Nevada mesothelioma case recover?

Nevada law allows the full range of compensatory damages, and punitive damages where the proof supports them.

Personal-injury compensation

Past and future medical expenses
Past and future lost earnings and lost earning capacity
Pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life
Loss of consortium for the spouse
Punitive damages, with clear and convincing proof of oppression, fraud, or malice
Interest on the judgment from the time the case is served, except on future damages

Nevada law caps punitive damages at three times the compensatory damages ($300,000 if the compensatory damages are under $100,000), but the cap does not apply to claims against the maker, distributor or seller of a defective product. Punitive damages require clear and convincing proof of oppression, fraud or malice.

Wrongful-death compensation

If a Nevada worker has already passed away from mesothelioma, the family's recovery runs on two tracks at once:

The heirs' claim: grief or sorrow, loss of support, companionship, society, comfort, and consortium, plus the pain, suffering, or disfigurement the worker experienced before death.
The estate's claim: medical expenses, funeral expenses, and the punitive damages the worker could have recovered if they had lived.

Legal detail: Nevada damages and wrongful death

No general compensatory damages cap. Nevada imposes no cap on compensatory damages in ordinary tort actions against private defendants.

Medical expenses and collateral sources. Future medical expenses are recoverable on proof that they are reasonably necessary. Hall v. SSF, Inc., 112 Nev. 1384, 930 P.2d 94 (1996). Nevada bars collateral-source evidence per se (Proctor v. Castelletti, 112 Nev. 88, 911 P.2d 853 (1996)), with a statutory exception: in a third-party trial the jury hears the workers' compensation payments and is told not to deduct them (§ 616C.215(11)). The rule limits what defendants can argue; it does not cancel Medicare's, an insurer's, or the comp insurer's repayment rights.

Punitive damages. A plaintiff must prove "by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant has been guilty of oppression, fraud or malice, express or implied" (Nev. Rev. Stat. § 42.005(1); definitions in § 42.001). The award may not exceed three times compensatory damages if those are $100,000 or more, or $300,000 if less. § 42.005(1)(a)-(b). The cap does not apply to an action against "a manufacturer, distributor or seller of a defective product" (§ 42.005(2)(a)) or against a person "for damages or an injury caused by the emission, disposal or spilling of a toxic, radioactive or hazardous material or waste" (§ 42.005(2)(d)); no Nevada decision has applied either exception to an asbestos claim. An employer is liable for punitive damages for an employee's act only if it knowingly employed an unfit employee with conscious disregard of others' safety, expressly authorized or ratified the act, or was itself guilty of oppression, fraud or malice; for a corporation, those elements must be met by an officer, director or managing agent. § 42.007(1).

Bifurcation and wealth evidence. The jury first decides whether punitive damages will be assessed, then sets the amount in a second proceeding; it is not told of the cap. Evidence of the defendant's financial condition is not admissible "until the commencement of the subsequent proceeding" on the amount. § 42.005(3)-(4).

Interest. A judgment draws interest from service of the summons and complaint, except that future damages draw interest only from the entry of judgment, at the prime rate plus 2 percent. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 17.130(2).

Wrongful death. The heirs and the personal representative may each sue, and the actions may be joined. § 41.085(2)-(3). Heirs recover grief or sorrow, loss of probable support, companionship, society, comfort and consortium, and damages for the decedent's pain, suffering or disfigurement (§ 41.085(4)). The estate recovers special damages such as medical and funeral expenses and any penalties, "including ... exemplary or punitive damages, that the decedent would have recovered if the decedent had lived," but not the decedent's pain and suffering (§ 41.085(5)).

Survival. No cause of action is lost by death. § 41.100(1). When a person with a claim dies before judgment, the estate recovers the decedent's pre-death losses, including punitive damages and pain, suffering or disfigurement (§ 41.100(3)). That subsection does not apply to the decedent's wrongful-death claim brought by the personal representative; in the death claim, the decedent's pain and suffering is listed among the heirs' damages (§ 41.085(4)) and excluded from the estate's (§ 41.085(5)).

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

You do not need to gather everything before calling. Most Nevada families call us with a diagnosis and a rough work history — and we build the case from there.

Evidence	Why it helps	What if you do not have it?
Medical records confirming mesothelioma or asbestos-related cancer	Establishes the diagnosis and the disease type	We help obtain records directly from your treating hospital and pathologist
Work history — employers, dates, job titles, locations	Identifies which products and worksites caused exposure	We reconstruct from Social Security earnings records, union records, and our database of 200,000+ exposure sites
Names of coworkers (living or deceased)	Coworker testimony supports product identification	Our database includes coworker records from many Nevada worksites; we can often identify likely coworkers ourselves
Photographs from the worksite	Visual confirmation of asbestos products in use	Helpful but rarely required — historical product documentation usually fills the gap
Military discharge papers (DD-214) for veterans	Opens VA service-connected and federal-program paths	We help obtain duplicates from the National Personnel Records Center
Records of Nevada Test Site, Nellis, Creech, NAS Fallon, or Hawthorne work	Contractor work at the Nevada Test Site (a DOE site) can open EEOICPA; federal civilian employment at any of these sites can open FECA	DOE and NIOSH maintain employment records for NTS workers; we obtain them
Death certificate (if applicable)	Establishes the wrongful-death deadline and cause	We obtain Nevada vital records on the family's behalf

If you have a diagnosis and even a rough sense of where the worker worked, that is enough to begin. We do the rest.

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

A Nevada mesothelioma case typically names many defendants because workers were exposed to many companies' products over decades.

Nevada usually makes each company pay only its own share of the fault. But that rule does not limit joint responsibility in strict product-liability cases or for injuries from products sold or used in Nevada, so a company found liable on those claims can be made to pay the whole verdict, less what settling companies have paid. Whether that applies depends on the proof against each company.

If the worker is found partly at fault, the recovery is reduced by that share, and a worker found 50 percent or less at fault can still recover. In strict product-liability claims, the worker's own carelessness does not reduce the recovery, but a company can argue that the worker knowingly and unreasonably chose to face a known danger.

Legal detail: comparative negligence, joint and several liability, and settlement credits

Comparative negligence. Where comparative negligence is asserted, the plaintiff's negligence bars recovery only if it is "greater than the negligence or gross negligence of the parties to the action against whom recovery is sought" (Nev. Rev. Stat. § 41.141(1)); the jury compares it with the combined negligence of all defendants (§ 41.141(2)(a)). The statute does not apply to strict products liability. Young's Mach. Co. v. Long, 100 Nev. 692, 692 P.2d 24 (1984). Assumption of risk is subsumed in comparative negligence for negligence claims but remains a defense to strict products liability. Cent. Tel. Co. v. Fixtures Mfg. Corp., 103 Nev. 298, 738 P.2d 510 (1987).

Several liability and its exceptions. In those actions each defendant is severally liable only for its percentage of negligence (§ 41.141(4)). The section "does not affect the joint and several liability, if any," of defendants in an action based on (a) strict liability; (b) an intentional tort; (c) the emission, disposal or spillage of a toxic or hazardous substance; (d) the concerted acts of the defendants; or (e) "an injury to any person or property resulting from a product which is manufactured, distributed, sold or used in this State" (§ 41.141(5)). No Nevada decision has applied the toxic-substance or concerted-acts exceptions to asbestos products. Where comparative negligence is not at issue, the common-law rule of joint liability applies (Buck v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., 105 Nev. 756, 783 P.2d 437 (1989)), but fault can still be apportioned among defendants (Café Moda, LLC v. Palma, 128 Nev. 78, 272 P.3d 137 (2012)).

Settlement credits. A settling defendant's fault and settlement amount are kept from the jury, and the judge deducts the settlement from the verdict. § 41.141(3). A good-faith release reduces the claim against the others by the amount stipulated or the amount paid, whichever is greater, and ends the settling party's liability for contribution. § 17.245. Whether a trust payment is credited the same way depends on its release terms.

How trust claims, lawsuits, and benefits can work together

A Nevada mesothelioma family often pursues several compensation paths. When to file each one depends on the case, and we decide it with the family and our trial team.

Path	What it is	How it fits with the others
Asbestos bankruptcy trusts	Claims filed with trusts set up by bankrupt manufacturers	No courtroom or jury; trust payments can affect a verdict where Nevada credits settlements
Civil lawsuit against companies still in business	Filed in Nevada state court (often the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County or the Second Judicial District Court in Washoe County) or federal court	Compensatory damages and, with clear and convincing proof, punitive damages; settlements are deducted from the verdict
Nevada workers' compensation	Occupational-disease benefits from the employer's insurer	The insurer has a lien on a civil recovery and the jury hears the payments; it can offset Social Security disability
VA service-connected disability	Monthly tax-free benefit for veterans with service-connected mesothelioma	A civil or trust recovery does not reduce VA disability; VA and FECA for the same disease generally require an election
EEOICPA Part E	Federal compensation for DOE contractor employees, including Nevada Test Site workers	Capped at $250,000 and reduced by lawsuit and trust recoveries and by state workers' compensation
FECA	Federal workers' compensation for civilian employees at Nellis, Creech, NAS Fallon, and other federal installations	Must be repaid from a recovery from the companies that made the products
Social Security disability	Monthly income for workers under full retirement age who are too sick to work	Can be offset by workers' compensation

Nevada federal-facility exposure

Nevada's largest federal site is the Nevada Test Site / Nevada National Security Site at Mercury — roughly 1,360 square miles in Nye County, site of 100 atmospheric and 828 underground nuclear weapons tests from 1951 to 1992. The federal footprint also includes Nellis Air Force Base, Creech AFB at Indian Springs, Naval Air Station Fallon, and the Hawthorne ammunition depot.

Federal programs that may apply to Nevada workers and veterans:

EEOICPA Part E — for contractor and subcontractor employees at the Nevada Test Site and other DOE sites with an asbestos-related illness; capped at $250,000 and reduced by lawsuit and trust recoveries and by state workers' compensation. EEOICPA Part B covers certain radiation cancers, beryllium disease, and silicosis, not asbestos disease.
RECA — for certain radiation-linked cancers (lung cancer among them, not mesothelioma) in atmospheric-test participants and downwinders; claims must be filed by December 31, 2027
VA service-connected disability — Air Force, Navy, Army, Marine, and Coast Guard veterans; the VA has no automatic presumption for asbestos diseases, but it treats in-service asbestos exposure as likely for many Navy ratings; a claim still needs a diagnosis and a doctor's opinion linking the disease to service. The VA's radiation presumptions for "atomic veterans" cover listed cancers; mesothelioma is claimed as an asbestos disease.
FECA — federal civilian employees at Nellis AFB, Creech AFB, NAS Fallon, and other federal installations; FECA is the United States' exclusive liability to them, and it must be repaid from a recovery from the companies that made the products
Social Security disability — for workers under full retirement age who are too sick to work

These programs interact with each other and with the civil case and trust claims, as described above.

What happens after you call?

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

First call (15–30 minutes). A team member listens to your story. We ask about the diagnosis, the worker's job history, and what your family is hoping for. No legal jargon.
Records gathering. We obtain medical records, Social Security earnings history, military records, and federal-facility employment records on your behalf. You do not chase paperwork.
Exposure reconstruction. We match the worker's history to the trusts' lists, our records, and the products, manufacturers, and site owners involved.
Strategy meeting with the family. We explain what claim paths are available, what the realistic timeline looks like, and what your options are — including the option of pursuing only trust and benefit claims without a lawsuit.
Filings. We prepare trust claims for every trust the evidence supports, any lawsuit, and benefit applications, and decide with the family and our trial team when to file each one.
Ongoing handling. You have a direct point of contact. We come to you for signatures and depositions where possible. In a lawsuit, a family that turns down a defendant's offer of judgment and then does not do better at trial can lose its own post-offer costs and interest and have to pay the defendant's post-offer costs, expert fees, and attorney fees, so we discuss every settlement offer with the family before anyone responds to it.
Resolution. Settlements and trust recoveries are paid to the family. No fee is charged unless we recover compensation.

Call 833-4-ASBESTOS or request a free case review.

How Nevada's laws may work in practice

Carlos is a 71-year-old retired pipefitter from Henderson. From 1973 to 2005 he worked for an outside mechanical contractor on shutdowns and maintenance jobs at Titanium Metals (TIMET), Stauffer Chemical, and other plants in the Henderson industrial complex — insulating process piping, replacing gaskets and packing on valves and pumps, and working around refractory crews in the furnaces and process heaters. In the late 1970s he also worked on Las Vegas Strip hotel construction. He had no significant health complaints until November 2025, when he developed shortness of breath and chest discomfort. In March 2026, a pericardial biopsy confirmed pericardial mesothelioma of the biphasic histological subtype.

Carlos's family files his personal-injury case well before March 2028, counting two years from the diagnosis, because his November 2025 symptoms alone did not point to asbestos. The case is brought in strict products liability and negligence against the companies that made the insulation, gasket, packing, and refractory products he worked with, and the family must show regular exposure to each company's product over an extended period. It does not sue the plant owners: a claim against them would turn on proof that they controlled his contractor's work, and owners can be immune as statutory employers for routine maintenance work. Carlos also has a Nevada occupational-disease claim against his own employer, which must be filed within one year, and the employer's insurer will have a lien on the civil recovery. Punitive damages against the product makers are not limited by Nevada's cap if the family proves oppression, fraud, or malice by clear and convincing evidence. Trust claims for TIMET, which is recognized by at least 6 trusts, including Johns-Manville, are filed when the family and our trial team decide it makes sense.

His wife and children lived with the asbestos dust on his clothes for decades. 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. If a family member is later diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, that is a separate claim against the same manufacturers and trusts; no Nevada court has decided whether a plant owner or employer owes a duty to a household member. If Carlos passes during the case, his estate continues his claim, including any punitive damages, and his heirs bring the wrongful-death claim.

Legal analysis of this hypothetical

Limitations. Two years under Nev. Rev. Stat. § 11.190(4)(e), tolled until inquiry notice (Adkins v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., 554 P.3d 212 (Nev. 2024)). Shortness of breath alone in November 2025 may not have put him on notice that someone's negligence caused an illness; counting from the March 2026 diagnosis, the case is filed well before March 2028.

Pleading theory.

Strict products liability (§ 402A; Ginnis) and negligence against the makers of the insulation, gaskets, packing, and refractory products. Joint liability is preserved for the strict-liability claims and for products sold or used in Nevada (§ 41.141(5)(a), (e)), subject to settlement deductions (§§ 41.141(3), 17.245).
No premises claim against TIMET or Stauffer: an owner owes a contractor's employee reasonable care (Rinehart; Karadanis), but the claim would depend on proof of the owners' control over the contractor's work, and the owners may be statutory employers for routine maintenance work (§§ 616A.210, 617.100; Meers; D & D Tire).
Punitive damages against the product makers outside the cap under § 42.005(2)(a), on clear and convincing proof of oppression, fraud, or malice (§§ 42.001, 42.005(1)).

Causation. Holcomb v. Georgia Pacific, LLC, 128 Nev. 614 (2012): product-by-product proof of frequency, regularity, and proximity, built from coworker testimony, records of the contractor's jobs, and industrial-hygiene testimony.

Defenses. His own carelessness doesn't reduce the strict-liability recovery (Young's Machine); assumption of risk requires proof that he actually knew and appreciated the danger (Central Telephone).

Workers' compensation. An occupational-disease claim against his employer under chapter 617: notice within 7 days and a claim within 90 days of learning of the disability and its work connection (§§ 617.342, 617.344), and in any event within one year (§ 617.460(2)). Because he is retired, a rebuttable presumption that the disease did not arise from the employment applies (§ 617.358(2)), so the claim needs his work history and medical evidence. The insurer is notified before the civil suit is filed and has a lien on the recovery, limited to the lesser of the lien or one-third of the total recovery (§ 616C.215(7)-(8)).

Trust claims. TIMET is recognized by at least 6 trusts: A.P. Green, Fibreboard, J.T. Thorpe (California), Kaiser Aluminum, NARCO, and Johns-Manville. Other Henderson sites and the Strip construction may support more.

Federal programs. None: Carlos worked for private employers, and he is past full retirement age, so Social Security disability is not available.

Survival and wrongful death. If Carlos dies, his estate continues the claim (§ 41.100) and recovers medical and funeral expenses and any punitive damages (§ 41.085(5)); his heirs recover their own losses and his pain and suffering (§ 41.085(4)).

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. Our Nevada work draws on a database of 200,000+ asbestos exposure sites nationally, including all 322 Nevada entries on the asbestos trusts' lists, across 49 communities. We routinely get claims approved by many asbestos trusts.

Nevada worksite knowledge. Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power generating-station workers, Henderson industrial complex workers (TIMET in particular), U.S. Gypsum Empire workers, Nevada Test Site workers, and Las Vegas hotel and casino construction tradespeople.
Particular focus on TIMET and the Henderson industrial complex. Our founder's father worked at TIMET in Henderson in the 1950s — that was one of his primary sources of asbestos exposure. That personal connection informs our approach to every TIMET case and every Henderson industrial complex case.
Pleading strategy built for Nevada law. Strict products liability and negligence against manufacturers; product-by-product proof under Holcomb; the joint-liability exceptions for strict liability and products sold or used in Nevada; and the defective-product exception to the punitive cap.
Filing during life. Where we can, we file while the worker can still testify about the products and conditions. Call as soon as possible after diagnosis.
Benefits coordination. Nevada workers' compensation, EEOICPA for Nevada Test Site contractor workers, VA service-connected disability for veterans, FECA for federal civilian employees, and Social Security disability for claimants under full retirement age, coordinated case by case with the trial team, including repayment rights and the VA/FECA election.
Trust claims beyond the lists. Even where the worksite is not on a trust's list, we use product-handling reconstruction to support claims against every trust the evidence supports.
Remote case handling. Phone, video, and home visits. You do not have to travel to our office.
No fee unless we recover. Contingent fee.

Learn more about our firm and asbestos database.

Court decisions: 5 asbestos cases from Nevada courts

Frequently asked questions

What is the statute of limitations for mesothelioma in Nevada?

Two years. Exactly when the clock starts varies, so to be safe, count from the date of diagnosis. If an earlier X-ray, CT scan or screening showed asbestos-related scarring, a Nevada court may count the two years from that earlier finding, so call us right away.

What is the deadline for a Nevada wrongful-death claim?

Two years from the date of death. If the worker dies before his own deadline runs, the estate's claim for his injuries keeps that deadline, or one year from the death if that is later. Call as soon as possible — evidence and witnesses become harder to find over time.

Can my family still call if my loved one already died?

Yes. Wrongful-death and survival claims are common in Nevada asbestos cases. The heirs recover their own losses and the worker's pain and suffering, and the estate recovers medical and funeral expenses and any punitive damages the worker could have recovered.

Do I need to know the asbestos product names?

No. Most Nevada families call us with a diagnosis and a rough job history. We identify the products from there using our database, coworker records, and historical product documentation.

Do I need old employment records before calling?

No. We obtain Social Security earnings records, union records, and federal-facility employment records on your behalf.

Can an adult child call for a parent?

Yes, and most calls come from adult children. We work with whoever the family designates.

Will we have to file a lawsuit?

Not necessarily. Some Nevada families recover through asbestos bankruptcy trusts and benefit programs alone. We explain the realistic options and respect your decision.

Are trust claims separate from lawsuits?

Yes. Trust claims are paperwork filed with each trust, not lawsuits. There is no courtroom, no jury, and no opposing lawyer in a trust claim. When to file them depends on the case, and trust payments can affect a verdict.

Can I file a Nevada claim if I no longer live in Nevada?

Often yes. Where you live now does not by itself prevent a Nevada case, but which court can hear it and which state's law applies depend on the companies involved and where the exposure happened. Many former Henderson industrial workers and Nevada Test Site workers moved out of state after retirement.

What if the exposure happened at work?

That is the typical case. Nevada's occupational-disease law bars most suits against the worker's own employer, but most asbestos cases are against the manufacturers whose products the employer bought. If the worker received workers' compensation, the insurer has a lien on that recovery.

What if the exposure happened through a spouse's work clothes?

No Nevada court has decided whether an employer or premises owner owes a duty to a household member exposed through a worker's clothing. Spouses and children with an asbestos disease may still have claims against the manufacturers whose products made the dust, and against the trusts. We offer free asbestos health screening to the family members of every client.

Are punitive damages available in Nevada asbestos cases?

They can be, with clear and convincing proof of oppression, fraud, or malice. Nevada law caps punitive damages at three times the compensatory damages ($300,000 if the compensatory damages are under $100,000), but the cap does not apply to claims against the maker, distributor or seller of a defective product.

Can we sue the plant where he worked?

Usually not, if he was the plant's own employee: workers' compensation is the remedy against the employer. If he worked there for an outside contractor, a claim against the plant owner may be possible, depending on who controlled the work and the area, but owners can be immune as statutory employers. Claims against the product manufacturers are not affected.

Where will my Nevada case be filed?

Nevada law sends a case to a county where one of the defendants resides; if none of them resides in Nevada, the family can choose the county. Common courts include the Eighth Judicial District Court (Clark County) in Las Vegas, the Second Judicial District Court (Washoe County) in Reno, the First Judicial District Court in Carson City, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. We handle the venue analysis and filing in whichever court fits the case.

Talk with a Nevada mesothelioma lawyer

Whether your family is dealing with a new diagnosis, a very sick loved one, or a death from mesothelioma, we are here to help.

You do not need to know the product names. You do not need to have all the records. You do not need to travel to our office. A spouse or adult child can call for the family.

Call 833-4-ASBESTOS Request a free case review

Sources and references

Statutes and rules

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 11.190(4)(e) — Two-year limitations period for personal-injury and wrongful-death actions.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 11.202 — Ten-year repose for improvements to real property; does not apply to product-defect claims.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 11.310(1) — If the claimant dies before the period expires, the estate may sue within the remaining period or one year after death, whichever is later.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 13.040 — Venue in the county where a defendant resides.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 17.130(2) — Interest from service of the summons and complaint (future damages from judgment) at prime plus 2 percent.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 17.245 — Effect of a good-faith release on other tortfeasors.
Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 17.117, 18.020; Nev. R. Civ. P. 68 — Offer of judgment and costs to the prevailing party.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 41.085 — Wrongful death: heirs' and estate's damages.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 41.100 — Survival of actions.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 41.141 — Comparative negligence, several liability, and the exceptions in subsection 5.
Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 42.001, 42.005, 42.007 — Punitive damages: standard, cap and its exceptions, bifurcation, and employer liability.
Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 616A.020, 617.017 — Workers' compensation and occupational-disease exclusivity.
Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 616A.210, 616B.603, 617.100, 617.175 — Statutory employees and independent enterprises.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 616C.215 — Third-party actions, the insurer's lien, and jury instructions on comp payments.
Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 617.065, 617.342, 617.344, 617.346, 617.358, 617.460 — Asbestos disease as an occupational disease; notice and claim deadlines; post-employment presumption.
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384–7385s-16, including § 7385 (offset) and Part E (§§ 7385s–7385s-16) — Part E compensation for DOE contractor employees, with offsets for lawsuit and trust recoveries.
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), 42 U.S.C. § 2210 note, as amended by Pub. L. 119-21 (2025) — certain radiation-linked cancers; does not cover mesothelioma.
Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 8101–8193, including § 8116(b) (election between FECA and VA benefits), § 8116(c) (exclusive liability of the United States), and § 8132 (repayment from third-party recoveries).

Secondary sources

Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A — Strict products liability, adopted in Ginnis.

Cases

Adkins v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., 140 Nev., Adv. Op. 48, 554 P.3d 212 (2024) — Discovery rule applies to § 11.190(4)(e) in toxic-exposure cases; inquiry notice.
Petersen v. Bruen, 106 Nev. 271, 792 P.2d 18 (1990) — Discovery rule.
Massey v. Litton, 99 Nev. 723, 669 P.2d 248 (1983) — Accrual on knowledge of damage and its cause.
Winn v. Sunrise Hosp. & Med. Ctr., 128 Nev. 246, 277 P.3d 458 (2012) — Inquiry-notice standard quoted in Adkins.
Holcomb v. Georgia Pacific, LLC, 128 Nev. 614, 289 P.3d 188 (2012) — Frequency, regularity, and proximity test for mesothelioma causation.
Ginnis v. Mapes Hotel Corp., 86 Nev. 408, 470 P.2d 135 (1970) — Strict products liability.
Young's Mach. Co. v. Long, 100 Nev. 692, 692 P.2d 24 (1984) — Comparative negligence statute does not apply to strict products liability.
Cent. Tel. Co. v. Fixtures Mfg. Corp., 103 Nev. 298, 738 P.2d 510 (1987) — Assumption of risk is a defense to strict products liability.
Buck v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., 105 Nev. 756, 783 P.2d 437 (1989) — Joint liability where comparative negligence is not at issue.
Café Moda, LLC v. Palma, 128 Nev. 78, 272 P.3d 137 (2012) — Apportionment between negligent and intentional tortfeasors.
Foster v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 128 Nev. 773, 291 P.3d 150 (2012) — Open and obvious danger does not automatically end the duty of reasonable care.
Sierra Pac. Power Co. v. Rinehart, 99 Nev. 557, 665 P.2d 270 (1983) — Owner owes a contractor's employee reasonable care; no duty for the obvious danger there; no civil remedy under Nevada's occupational safety act; no peculiar-risk duty.
Karadanis v. Newcomb, 101 Nev. 196, 698 P.2d 872 (1985) — Lessee in control of the area liable to a contractor's employee.
Knutson v. Allis-Chalmers Corp., 358 F. Supp. 2d 983 (D. Nev. 2005) — Mesothelioma case remanded; the no-duty rule for owners was not well settled.
Hall v. SSF, Inc., 112 Nev. 1384, 930 P.2d 94 (1996) — Future medical expenses.
Proctor v. Castelletti, 112 Nev. 88, 911 P.2d 853 (1996) — Collateral-source rule.
Barjesteh v. Faye's Pub, Inc., 106 Nev. 120, 787 P.2d 405 (1990) — Employer's intentional tort outside workers' compensation.
Conway v. Circus Circus Casinos, Inc., 116 Nev. 870, 8 P.3d 837 (2000) — Intentional-tort exception requires deliberate and specific intent to injure.
Meers v. Haughton Elevator, 101 Nev. 283, 701 P.2d 1006 (1985) — "Normal work" test for statutory employers.
D & D Tire, Inc. v. Ouellette, 131 Nev. 462, 352 P.3d 32 (2015) — Specialized-repair exception to statutory-employer immunity.

Last reviewed: November 2026. The Law Offices of Justinian C. Lane, Esq. — PLLC | Round Rock, TX · Mesa, AZ · Redmond, WA. We partner with firms in every relevant jurisdiction so claims can be handled in the appropriate court or claims system.

This page is provided for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Every asbestos case turns on its own facts, exposure history, diagnosis, deadlines, available evidence, and applicable law. Reviewing this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your specific situation, call 833-4-ASBESTOS for a free case review.