Texas Mesothelioma Lawyer | Asbestos Claims, Lawsuits & Deadlines

If you or someone in your family has been diagnosed with mesothelioma in Texas, several claim paths may be open at the same time. These include lawsuits against the manufacturers and suppliers of the asbestos-containing products your loved one worked with, lawsuits against the refineries, chemical plants, shipyards, and other premises owners where the exposure happened, claims against asbestos bankruptcy trusts, and federal benefits for veterans and civilian federal workers. Most Texas families pursue several of these tracks together.

Texas gives a diagnosed worker two years to file a personal-injury case, and the clock never starts at the long-ago exposure. To be safe, treat that deadline as two years from the date of diagnosis. Families calling after a death face a firmer deadline: two years from the date of death, with no extension if the asbestos cause is discovered later. This is the most consequential trap in Texas asbestos law. If you have lost a loved one to lung cancer or mesothelioma, the safest step is to call as soon as possible — the clock may already be running.

You do not need to know the name of the asbestos product before you call. Texas has one of the deepest bodies of asbestos exposure documentation in the country, and many strong cases begin with one sentence: "Dad worked at the refinery in Port Arthur." We reconstruct the exposure from there.

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?	A diagnosed worker has two years. Texas law starts that clock later than diagnosis in asbestos cases, but to be safe, count two years from the date of diagnosis. If your loved one has already passed away, the deadline is two years from the date of death, and it does not extend if you learn about the asbestos cause later, which is the most common trap for Texas families. Call as soon as possible, even if the cause is not yet certain.
Does a claim always mean filing a lawsuit?	No. Many Texas families recover meaningful compensation from asbestos trust funds without ever stepping into a courtroom. Trust claims and lawsuits can run side-by-side.
Who may be responsible?	The companies that made and sold the asbestos products, the refineries, chemical plants, shipyards, and other facilities where the exposure happened, and — in some cases unique to Texas — the worker's own employer if it had opted out of the state's workers' compensation system.
What compensation may be available?	Medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, loss of companionship, and in cases of serious corporate misconduct, additional punitive damages. Texas places no overall cap on standard compensation in asbestos cases.
What evidence do we need?	A diagnosis, a general work history, and the names of any facilities or industries the worker spent time in. You do not need product names or old employment records to start.
Can an adult child or spouse call?	Yes. Most of our first calls come from a spouse or an adult child. You do not need a power of attorney to ask questions.

“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 Texas refinery, chemical plant, shipyard, or military base?

The Gulf Coast petrochemical corridor, with refineries and chemical plants from Beaumont and Port Arthur through Texas City, Houston, Freeport, and Corpus Christi, holds one of the densest clusters of asbestos worksites in the United States. Beyond the coast, Texas industrial history includes the Dallas–Fort Worth manufacturing belt, the San Antonio and Austin federal and manufacturing cluster, the East Texas timber and paper-mill belt, and a large federal military footprint. When asbestos companies went bankrupt, the trusts set up to pay their claims each published a list of places where their products were present. For Texas, those lists hold more than 7,500 entries across 731 communities, from 30 asbestos trusts, and thousands of our clients worked at Texas job sites. Trust counts below include the Johns-Manville trust and are minimums.

Texas worksite	City	Why it matters
Dow Chemical (Texas Operations)	Freeport	At least 19 trusts, the most of any Texas worksite.
Texaco refinery (The Texas Company)	Port Arthur	At least 18 trusts. Golden Triangle refining, the same corridor where Clarence Borel worked.
Exxon refinery and chemical plant (Humble, Enjay)	Baytown	At least 16 trusts. Houston Ship Channel refining and chemicals.
Shell Oil	Deer Park	At least 15 trusts. Refining and chemical operations on the ship channel.
Port Neches complex (Texaco, Jefferson Chemical, Huntsman; B.F. Goodrich, Ameripol-Synpol)	Port Neches	At least 15 trusts. Synthetic rubber and petrochemicals.
Gulf Oil refinery	Port Arthur	At least 14 trusts. Decades of insulator and pipefitter exposure.
Amoco refinery (American Oil, Pan American)	Texas City	At least 13 trusts. Galveston Bay refining.
Monsanto Chemical	Texas City	At least 13 trusts. Heart of the Texas City chemical corridor.
Ethyl Corp.	Pasadena	At least 10 trusts. Houston Ship Channel chemical operations.
Petro-Tex Chemical	Houston	At least 10 trusts. Ship channel chemical manufacturing.
Orange shipyards (Consolidated Steel, Levingston, Weaver)	Orange	WWII destroyers, destroyer escorts, and other Navy vessels built at private yards beside U.S. Naval Station Orange; shipyard workers may be covered by the LHWCA, depending on employer and work.
Joint Base San Antonio (Lackland / Randolph / Fort Sam Houston)	San Antonio	One of the largest joint bases in the Department of Defense; decades of asbestos-era construction and maintenance.

See the trusts that list each major Texas worksite

Not seeing the worksite? Search the trusts' Texas lists by any name the plant went by. If it isn't there, that does not mean your family has no claim. Many successful Texas cases are built from product-handling reconstruction, coworker information, historical invoices, trust documents, and records from similar refineries, chemical plants, and shipyards.

Your legal options after a Texas mesothelioma diagnosis

Think of a Texas mesothelioma case as several tracks moving in parallel, not as one lawsuit. Different tracks reach different sources of money.

Asbestos trust claims

Many of the companies that made the most dangerous asbestos products filed for bankruptcy and established asbestos trusts to pay current and future victims. Trust claims are filed directly with the trusts — there is no lawsuit, no courtroom, and no jury. They typically resolve in months. If a family also files a Texas lawsuit, Texas law requires filing the trust claims the family believes may owe compensation, and sharing them with the defendants, before trial. Texas workers regularly recover from ten or more trusts in a single case. Most workers exposed before 1983 can also file with the Johns-Manville trust, which keeps no site list of its own. Learn more about asbestos trust claims.

Product liability lawsuits

Lawsuits against the still-solvent manufacturers and suppliers of asbestos-containing products are the heart of most Texas cases. Texas product liability law was built on the foundational Beaumont-area asbestos case — a framework that focuses on the product and its missing warnings rather than on whether the manufacturer foresaw this particular worker's injury. We have to prove the product was a substantial factor in causing the disease, with evidence of roughly how much exposure came from each company's product. That is why we build a detailed work history. Learn more about product liability lawsuits.

Premises liability lawsuits

When refineries, chemical plants, shipyards, and other facility owners allowed asbestos exposure to occur on their property — to their own contractors, insulators, pipefitters, and tradesmen — they can be sued for the harm. For contractor employees who worked on building, repairing, or renovating plant equipment and structures, a Texas statute requires proof that the owner controlled how the work was done and actually knew of the danger but failed to warn. Texas premises liability is its own track, separate from the product manufacturer cases. Learn more about premises liability lawsuits.

Federal and state benefit programs run alongside the civil case. Texas is unusual: it is the only state in the country where an employer can opt out of workers' compensation entirely. If the employer opted out — a "non-subscriber" — the worker can sue the employer directly, and several of the usual employer defenses are stripped away by statute (the worker still has to prove the employer was negligent). 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. Workers at Orange's private wartime shipyards may be covered by the federal longshore program, depending on who employed them and their work. Federal civilian employees at Texas's many military and NASA installations may be covered by the federal employees' program. Social Security disability can help claimants under full retirement age who have enough work credits. Learn more about disability and federal benefits.

Can we choose not to sue?

Yes. Some Texas families decide they only want to pursue trust claims and federal benefits — no courtroom, no deposition, no lawsuit. We respect that decision. We will help you maximize the trust and benefit recovery available without filing a court case, and 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. Texas is where it happened — the case was filed in Beaumont, and his story is the reason Texas is called the birthplace of modern asbestos litigation. Read his story.

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

A diagnosed worker in Texas has two years to file a personal-injury claim, and the clock never starts at the long-ago workplace exposures. For asbestos cases, a 2005 Texas law starts the two years at the earlier of the worker's death or the date a qualifying medical report is served on a defendant in the lawsuit, so the legal deadline often falls later than two years after diagnosis. To be safe, treat your deadline as two years from the date of diagnosis. How these rules apply can be disputed in a particular case, and evidence and witnesses are easier to preserve early.

The wrongful-death deadline works differently, and this is the most important rule on the page. If your loved one has died, the family generally has two years from the date of death to file. The discovery rule does not apply to wrongful death. A family that learns three or four years after a death that asbestos was the cause can lose the wrongful-death claim entirely, even if no one could reasonably have known sooner. There is a second rule to know: the family's claims after a death depend on the worker's own claim. If the worker's own deadline had already run out before death, the family's claims are barred too. Because the asbestos statute usually starts the worker's clock no earlier than death, this mostly matters where a medical report was already served in an earlier lawsuit, but it is one more reason to act promptly.

This is why we urge families to call early, even when the cause of death is not yet certain and even when the family is still grieving. Filing the personal-injury case while the worker is still living keeps the worker's own claim alive, which the family's later claims depend on, and preserves the worker's own account of where and how the exposure happened.

Texas also has a 15-year products liability deadline measured from when the product was sold, but the law contains an explicit carve-out for latent diseases like mesothelioma. The carve-out requires exposure within 15 years after the product was first sold, so it is checked product by product, but in practice this 15-year rule rarely defeats Texas asbestos cases.

Call 833-4-ASBESTOS for a free case review.

Legal detail: Texas filing deadlines

Personal injury. Two-year limitations under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a). For asbestos-related injury, § 16.0031(a) (Acts 2005, S.B. 15) sets accrual at the earlier of the exposed person's death or service on a defendant of a report complying with § 90.003 or § 90.010(f). Outside that statute, Childs v. Haussecker, 974 S.W.2d 31 (Tex. 1998), applies a discovery rule to latent occupational disease. Practice point: calendar two years from diagnosis.

Wrongful death. Two-year limitations under § 16.003(b), accruing on death (§ 16.0031(a)(1) is to the same effect for asbestos deaths). The discovery rule does not apply to wrongful-death accrual: Moreno v. Sterling Drug, Inc., 787 S.W.2d 348 (Tex. 1990). Wrongful-death and survival claims are derivative: if the decedent's own claim was time-barred at death, both are barred. Russell v. Ingersoll-Rand Co., 841 S.W.2d 343 (Tex. 1992); § 71.003(a). A timely personal-injury action filed during life, naming the identified defendants, avoids that bar.

Survival. § 71.021: the decedent's personal-injury claim survives to the heirs, legal representatives and estate. It need not have been filed during life, but it must not have been time-barred at death. § 16.062 suspends limitations for up to 12 months after death, or until a personal representative qualifies.

Products liability statute of repose. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.012 imposes a 15-year repose period measured from the date of sale. Section 16.012(d) contains a latent-disease carve-out where the claimant alleges (1) exposure to the product before the end of 15 years after it was first sold, (2) the exposure caused the claimant's disease, and (3) symptoms did not, within 15 years after the defendant's first sale, manifest to a degree and duration that would put a reasonable person on notice of injury. Element (1) is product-specific; asbestos claims usually meet all three.

Real property improvements repose. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.009: 10-year repose, from substantial completion, for claims against a person who constructs or repairs an improvement to real property, arising from a defective or unsafe condition or deficient construction or repair. It protects builders and repairers, not product manufacturers as such.

Minor tolling. § 16.001 tolls limitations until majority; applies to minors' wrongful-death claims (Ruiz v. Guerra, 293 S.W.3d 706 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2009)). The tolling is personal to the minor and does not extend adult beneficiaries' claims.

Who can be sued in a Texas asbestos case?

A Texas asbestos case typically names multiple defendants across several categories. The goal is to reach every available source of compensation.

Product manufacturers and suppliers

The companies that made the insulation, gaskets, packing, refractory brick, joint compounds, valves, pumps, boilers, and other asbestos-containing products that workers handled every day. This is the core of most Texas cases. Texas product liability law allows recovery against any manufacturer whose product was a substantial factor in causing the disease, even when multiple companies contributed to the harm. A company that only sold a product it did not make is liable in narrower situations, including when the manufacturer is insolvent or beyond the court's reach.

Premises owners and site operators

The refineries, chemical plants, shipyards, paper mills, power plants, and other industrial facilities that controlled the worksite where exposure occurred. Premises owners had their own duty to protect workers, including contractors and tradesmen, from known hazards on their property. For contractor employees working on improvements to the property, Texas limits that duty to owners that controlled the work and actually knew of the danger.

Asbestos bankruptcy trusts

Dozens of the largest historical asbestos manufacturers — Johns Manville, Owens Corning, Babcock & Wilcox, A.P. Green, Combustion Engineering, Eagle-Picher, Fibreboard, Owens-Illinois, Pittsburgh Corning, and many others — filed for bankruptcy and set up trusts to pay victims. Trust claims are filed directly, not through court.

Employers (Texas's unusual rule)

In most states, the workers' compensation system blocks employees from suing their own employer. Texas is the only state in the country where employers can opt out of workers' compensation entirely. If the employer was a "non-subscriber" — and many Texas refineries, chemical plants, oilfield service companies, and construction employers historically were — the worker can sue the employer directly, and several of the usual employer defenses are eliminated by statute, though the worker must still prove the employer was negligent. Where the employer did subscribe, the lawsuit is usually against the third-party manufacturers and premises owners instead. In a death case, Texas also lets the surviving spouse and children seek punitive damages from a subscribing employer whose gross negligence caused the death.

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

Strict products liability. The foundational Texas asbestos case is Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp., 493 F.2d 1076 (5th Cir. 1973), the first U.S. appellate decision recognizing strict products liability and duty to warn for asbestos manufacturers, filed in the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division. Texas applies a producing-cause standard under Ford Motor Co. v. Ledesma, 242 S.W.3d 32 (Tex. 2007); a product that only furnishes the condition making injury possible is not a legal cause (Union Pump Co. v. Allbritton, 898 S.W.2d 773 (Tex. 1995)). Foreseeability of the particular plaintiff or accident is not an element of strict liability, though a warning claim requires that the risk was known or reasonably knowable to the defendant. Multiple producing causes are recognized. In asbestos cases, causation requires defendant-specific evidence of the approximate dose and proof that it was a substantial factor in causing the disease: Borg-Warner Corp. v. Flores, 232 S.W.3d 765 (Tex. 2007). That standard applies to mesothelioma, without but-for proof as to any one product: Bostic v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 439 S.W.3d 332 (Tex. 2014). Nonmanufacturing sellers are liable only under the exceptions in Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 82.003, which include the manufacturer's insolvency.

Negligence. Substantial-factor cause-in-fact plus foreseeability of the general character of injury: Windrum v. Kareh, 581 S.W.3d 761 (Tex. 2019); Doe v. Boys Clubs of Greater Dallas, Inc., 907 S.W.2d 472 (Tex. 1995). Foreseeability is essentially uncontestable on the asbestos industry concealment record (Sumner Simpson papers; suppressed Mearl Bing studies; documented internal Johns-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan correspondence).

Expert testimony. Texas Rule 702 with reliability gatekeeping under E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Robinson, 923 S.W.2d 549 (Tex. 1995), and Gammill v. Jack Williams Chevrolet, Inc., 972 S.W.2d 713 (Tex. 1998).

Premises liability. Refineries, chemical plants, and other facility owners owe duties to invitees including contractor employees. Tripartite premises liability analysis: invitee status, knowledge of the dangerous condition, and breach of duty to warn or make safe. For claims by contractor and subcontractor employees arising from the construction, repair, renovation, or modification of an improvement to real property, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Chapter 95 (eff. 1996) controls: the owner is liable only if it exercised or retained some control over the manner of the work and had actual knowledge of the danger and failed to adequately warn (§§ 95.002–.003).

Workers' compensation — non-subscriber regime. Texas employers may opt out of workers' compensation under Tex. Lab. Code. Non-subscribers lose the exclusive-remedy bar and lose the common-law defenses of contributory negligence, fellow-servant rule, and assumption of risk under Tex. Lab. Code § 406.033. The employee must still prove the employer's negligence (§ 406.033(d)).

Workers' compensation — subscriber intentional-tort exception. Subscriber employers retain exclusive-remedy protection under § 408.001 except where the employer believed its actions were substantially certain to result in a particular injury to a particular employee: Berkel & Co. Contractors, Inc. v. Lee, 612 S.W.3d 280 (Tex. 2020). Demanding standard. Separately, § 408.001(b) permits the surviving spouse and heirs of the body to recover exemplary damages for a death caused by the employer's intentional act or omission or gross negligence.

Third-party claims. Tex. Lab. Code § 417.001 allows an employee or beneficiary to sue a liable third party, such as a product manufacturer or premises owner, while also claiming workers' compensation; the comp carrier is subrogated to the extent of benefits paid.

What compensation can a Texas mesothelioma case recover?

Texas places no overall cap on standard compensation in asbestos cases. The medical malpractice damage caps that get the most press do not apply to asbestos product cases.

Personal-injury compensation

Past and future medical expenses — subject to Texas's paid-amount limit on medical bills (the jury is not told that the reduction is due to insurance)
Past and future lost wages and lost earning capacity
Past and future pain and suffering
Past and future mental anguish
Physical impairment and disfigurement
Loss of consortium for a spouse, and for children when a parent is seriously and permanently injured

Wrongful-death compensation

Where the worker has passed away, Texas authorizes wrongful-death recovery by the surviving spouse, children, and parents. Recoverable losses include the family's mental anguish, loss of companionship and society, lost financial support, and loss of inheritance. There is no overall cap on Texas wrongful-death damages in asbestos cases. A separate survival action carries forward the recovery the worker could have brought during life, including pre-death pain and suffering, as long as the worker's own claim had not expired before death. It does not need to have been filed during life.

Punitive damages

Texas allows additional punitive damages where corporate conduct rises to gross negligence, malice, or fraud, and the jury must be unanimous. The documented record of asbestos industry concealment, going back to the 1930s, has supported punitive findings in many Texas cases. A statutory cap applies per defendant, but in a multi-defendant asbestos case the cumulative punitive recovery can still be substantial, and the cap does not apply where the conduct was one of a short list of serious felonies committed knowingly or intentionally.

Legal detail: Texas damages and wrongful death

Compensatory damages. No statutory cap in standard tort cases. The health care liability caps in Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Chapter 74 (§ 74.301) do not apply to asbestos product cases.

Paid-or-incurred medical expense limit. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.0105; Haygood v. De Escabedo, 356 S.W.3d 390 (Tex. 2011). Recovery limited to amounts actually paid or incurred. The collateral source rule is preserved as to jury information — the jury is not told that the reduction reflects insurance or Medicare payments.

Loss of consortium. Spousal loss of consortium is long recognized. Children may recover for loss of parental consortium when a parent suffers serious, permanent, and disabling injury: Reagan v. Vaughn, 804 S.W.2d 463 (Tex. 1990).

Wrongful death. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004 authorizes wrongful-death actions by the surviving spouse, children, and parents. Recoverable damages include pecuniary loss, loss of companionship and society, mental anguish, and loss of inheritance. No cap.

Survival action. § 71.021 continues the decedent's claims for the heirs, legal representatives, and estate, including pre-death pain and suffering; cumulative with wrongful-death recovery. Filing during life is not required, but the claim is barred if it was time-barred at death (Russell). § 16.062 suspends limitations for up to 12 months after death.

Punitive damages. § 41.003 requires clear and convincing evidence of fraud, malice, or gross negligence, and a unanimous jury on liability and amount (§ 41.003(d)). § 41.008(b) imposes a per-defendant cap: the greater of (a) two times economic damages plus noneconomic damages up to $750,000, or (b) $200,000. § 41.008(c) exception: the cap does not apply to conduct described as a felony in listed Penal Code sections (among them fraudulent destruction, removal, or concealment of a writing, § 32.47), committed knowingly or intentionally (the mental-state condition does not apply to intoxication assault or manslaughter). Bifurcation available on defense motion under § 41.009.

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

You do not need to gather everything before calling. The most important first step is the diagnosis and a rough work history. We build the rest with you.

Evidence	Why it helps	What if you do not have it?
Pathology report or biopsy result	Confirms the diagnosis and the type of mesothelioma	We can request records from the treating hospital with your authorization.
General work history — employers, dates, locations	Identifies which Texas facilities and industries to investigate	A rough timeline is fine. We reconstruct details from Social Security earnings records, union records, and coworker testimony.
Names of any asbestos-containing products handled	Connects exposure to specific manufacturers and trusts	Most clients cannot name products. Our database of 200,000+ verified exposure sites cross-references worksites to products.
Military discharge papers (DD-214)	Establishes Navy, Air Force, Army, or Marine service for VA benefits	Replaceable through the National Personnel Records Center. We help.
Photographs of the worker on the job	Sometimes shows product labels or facility detail	Not required. Many strong cases have no photographs.
Coworker contact information	Lay witnesses who can describe the products and conditions	Helpful but not required. We locate coworkers from union and employer records.

If you have a diagnosis and a general sense of where the worker spent his career, you have enough to start. We do the rest.

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

Texas uses a proportionate-responsibility system. The jury is asked to assign a percentage of fault to each party — including, often, to bankrupt asbestos manufacturers who are not in the courtroom but whose products contributed to the disease.

Three features of this system shape Texas asbestos strategy. First, if a defendant is found more than 50% at fault, that defendant is fully responsible for the verdict. If no single defendant exceeds that threshold, each defendant generally pays only its assigned share. Second, Texas defendants are allowed to point to bankrupt companies that are not in the lawsuit and ask the jury to assign fault to them. The share allocated to those bankrupt companies generally can't be collected in the lawsuit; asbestos trust claims are how families pursue it, which is why trust claims are part of our planning in every Texas case. Defendants can also point to other non-parties, such as an employer, and no trust pays those shares. Third, claimants are barred from recovery if their own assigned fault exceeds 50%, but this rarely threatens an asbestos case, because workers usually had little or no information about the asbestos hazard.

Legal detail: proportionate responsibility, joint and several liability, and responsible third parties

Proportionate responsibility. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Chapter 33.

50% bar. § 33.001 — claimant whose percentage of responsibility exceeds 50% recovers nothing. Damages otherwise reduced by claimant's percentage under § 33.012.

Joint and several liability. § 33.013(b)(1): joint and several liability where a defendant's responsibility exceeds 50% (subsection (b)(2) adds a narrow route for specified concerted criminal conduct). Defendants at 50% or less are severally liable only.

Responsible third party designation. § 33.004 — defendants may designate non-parties as responsible third parties whose percentages of responsibility are submitted to the jury. Texas asbestos defendants routinely designate bankrupt manufacturers (Johns Manville, Owens Corning, Babcock & Wilcox, A.P. Green, Combustion Engineering, Eagle-Picher, Fibreboard, Owens-Illinois, Pittsburgh Corning) as RTPs to shift fault. Shares allocated to bankrupt RTPs are pursued through trust claims.

Settlement credits. Dollar-for-dollar credit for settlements (§ 33.012(b)).

Trust claims in Texas lawsuits. A claimant who files an asbestos action must make a trust claim against each trust the claimant believes may owe compensation, no later than the 150th day before trial (§ 90.052), and serve notice and trust claim material on each party no later than the 120th day before trial (§ 90.053). An MDL pretrial court may not remand, and a trial court may not start trial, until both are done (§ 90.054(a)). Trust claim material is presumed authentic, relevant, discoverable, and not privileged (§ 90.058).

How trust claims, lawsuits, and benefits can work together

Track	What it is	How it fits
Asbestos trust claims	Filed directly with bankruptcy trusts established by historical manufacturers	No lawsuit; typically resolves in months; runs in parallel with everything else
Lawsuit against solvent defendants	Filed in a Texas state court or in federal court (see where cases are filed, below)	Reaches the manufacturers and premises owners still in business
Non-subscriber employer suit	Direct suit against a Texas employer that opted out of workers' comp	Available only where the employer was a non-subscriber
VA service-connected disability	Federal program for veterans	Available with proof of in-service asbestos exposure and a doctor's opinion linking it to service
LHWCA (federal longshore program)	Federal workers' compensation for shipyard workers	May cover workers at Orange's private wartime shipyards, depending on employer and work
FECA (federal employees' program)	Federal workers' compensation for federal civilian employees	Federal civilian employees at JBSA, Fort Cavazos, Fort Bliss, NAS Corpus Christi, NAS Kingsville, Sheppard AFB, Dyess AFB, Red River Army Depot, NASA JSC, VA medical centers
Social Security disability	Federal disability program	For claimants under full retirement age with enough work credits

These tracks can run at the same time, but some must be coordinated. Federal employees' compensation must be repaid from a lawsuit recovery, the federal longshore program has credit and settlement-approval rules, and a workers' compensation carrier can be reimbursed from a recovery against a third party. We plan around these rules from the start.

Texas shipyard, Navy, and federal-facility exposure

Many Texas asbestos clients served at, or worked as civilians on, Texas military bases, NASA's Johnson Space Center, VA hospitals, or the WWII shipyards at Orange. Our Texas exposure sites page lists the major installations.

Federal benefits can run in parallel with the civil case and trust filings, though some must be coordinated with a civil recovery. Veterans may qualify for VA service-connected disability. Workers at Orange's private wartime shipyards may qualify for the federal longshore program. Federal civilian employees at Texas bases and federal facilities may qualify for the federal employees' program. Social Security disability can help claimants under full retirement age with enough work credits.

What happens after you call?

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

Initial call. A spouse or adult child can make the first call. We listen, we answer questions, and we explain the options. There is no cost and no obligation.
Work-history review. We map the worker's career against the trusts' Texas lists, which hold more than 7,500 entries.
Records gathering. With your authorization we request medical records, Social Security earnings records, military service records, and union records.
Strategy decision with the family. Some families want trust claims only. Some want the full civil case. We follow your lead.
Filings. The order of trust claims, benefit applications, and the civil case depends on the facts of each case, and we decide it together with the trial team. The civil case is filed in the appropriate Texas county.
Discovery and settlement. Most Texas asbestos cases settle. Some go to trial.
Recovery. Funds are distributed to the family in coordination with any liens and any federal benefits.

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

How Texas's laws may work in practice

Hector is a 76-year-old retired refinery insulator and pipefitter from Port Arthur. From 1968 through 2002 he worked at the Texaco (later Motiva) refinery at Port Arthur and at the neighboring Jefferson Chemical at Port Neches and Gulf Oil at Port Arthur facilities — the heart of the Beaumont / Port Arthur / Orange "Golden Triangle" refining corridor, the same geographic cluster where Clarence Borel worked decades earlier. His work involved daily cutting, fitting, and removal of asbestos-containing block insulation, pipe covering, gaskets, and packing across all three facilities. In late 2025 he developed shortness of breath, persistent chest pain, and pleural effusion. In March 2026 a VATS biopsy confirmed pleural mesothelioma of the biphasic histological subtype.

For Hector and his family, the personal-injury claim was filed within weeks of diagnosis. To be safe, we treat Hector's two-year deadline as running from his March 2026 diagnosis, even though Texas's asbestos statute would start it later. The case is filed in Jefferson County — the same county where Clarence Borel's case was originally filed in federal court in Beaumont — and names the still-solvent manufacturers of the insulation, gaskets, packing, and refractory products Hector worked with. Trust claims are filed in parallel with the historical bankrupt manufacturers. Each of Hector's three worksites is on many trusts' lists: Texaco Port Arthur on at least 18, the Port Neches complex on at least 15, and Gulf Oil Port Arthur on at least 14, counting Johns-Manville. Many trusts list more than one of the three, so the counts overlap. Texas places no cap on Hector's compensation for medical care, lost wages, pain and suffering, or his wife's loss of companionship. 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, they may have their own claims against the same manufacturers and trusts. Filing the personal-injury case during Hector's lifetime also keeps his own claim alive, which his family's later claims would depend on.

Legal analysis of this hypothetical

Limitations. Personal injury two-year limitations under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a), with accrual under § 16.0031(a) at the earlier of death or service of a Chapter 90 report. Conservatively calendared from the March 2026 diagnosis (through March 2028); suit filed within weeks. A timely lifetime filing avoids the derivative bar of Russell v. Ingersoll-Rand Co., 841 S.W.2d 343 (Tex. 1992). If Hector passes during the case, his claim continues as a survival action under § 71.021, and the family's wrongful-death claim accrues at death with a two-year period under § 16.003(b), without the discovery rule (Moreno v. Sterling Drug, Inc., 787 S.W.2d 348 (Tex. 1990)).

Chapter 90. A physician report under § 90.003(a)(1) (mesothelioma diagnosis and asbestos causation to a reasonable degree of medical probability) is served on each defendant within 30 days after it answers or otherwise appears (§ 90.006). Trust claims are made at least 150 days before trial and disclosed at least 120 days before trial (§§ 90.052–.053).

Statute of repose. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.012 — 15-year products liability repose. § 16.012(d) latent-disease carve-out alleged for each product: exposure within 15 years after first sale, exposure caused the disease, and no symptoms putting a reasonable person on notice within 15 years of the defendant's first sale.

Pleading theory. Strict products liability against asbestos product manufacturers under the Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp., 493 F.2d 1076 (5th Cir. 1973) framework with producing-cause causation under Ford Motor Co. v. Ledesma, 242 S.W.3d 32 (Tex. 2007), and defendant-specific dose evidence under Borg-Warner Corp. v. Flores, 232 S.W.3d 765 (Tex. 2007), and Bostic v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 439 S.W.3d 332 (Tex. 2014); foreseeability of the particular plaintiff not required; multiple producing causes recognized. Negligence under substantial-factor and foreseeability framework of Windrum v. Kareh, 581 S.W.3d 761 (Tex. 2019), and Doe v. Boys Clubs of Greater Dallas, Inc., 907 S.W.2d 472 (Tex. 1995) — foreseeability uncontestable on the documented record of asbestos industry concealment (Sumner Simpson papers; Mearl Bing studies; Saranac Laboratory work; internal Johns-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan memos; Asbestos Information Association and Asbestos Textile Institute records). Gross negligence supporting punitive damages under the § 41.003 clear-and-convincing-evidence and unanimity standard. Breach of warranty as alternative.

Venue. Jefferson County District Court (county where the exposure occurred; Borel was a federal case in the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division). If the case is transferred to the asbestos MDL pretrial court, § 90.010(c) requires that court to expedite a living mesothelioma claimant's case.

Proportionate responsibility. § 33.001 50% bar unlikely to threaten the case on these facts. § 33.013(b) joint and several liability available only against defendants exceeding 50% responsibility; defendants 50% or less severally liable only. § 33.004 responsible-third-party designations expected against Johns Manville, Owens Corning, Babcock & Wilcox, A.P. Green, Combustion Engineering, Eagle-Picher, Fibreboard, Owens-Illinois, and others. Trust filings pursue the RTP-allocated share.

Damages. No statutory cap on compensatory damages. Medical expense recovery limited to paid-or-incurred amounts under § 41.0105 and Haygood v. De Escabedo, 356 S.W.3d 390 (Tex. 2011), with collateral source rule preserved as to jury information. Spousal loss of consortium. Punitive damages capped per defendant under § 41.008(b) at the greater of 2× economic plus noneconomic up to $750,000, or $200,000, with § 41.008(c) felony exception.

Workers' compensation. Subscriber/non-subscriber status varies across the three Golden Triangle employers. Tex. Lab. Code § 406.033 strips contributory negligence, fellow-servant, and assumption-of-risk defenses against non-subscribers. § 417.001 preserves third-party claims regardless. Intentional-tort exception under Berkel & Co. Contractors, Inc. v. Lee, 612 S.W.3d 280 (Tex. 2020) available in theory; not the primary track.

Trust filings. Texaco Port Arthur is on at least 18 trusts' lists, the Port Neches complex on at least 15, and Gulf Oil Port Arthur on at least 14 (counts include Johns-Manville and overlap). Timing coordinated with the trial team; Chapter 90 deadlines apply if suit is filed.

Federal coordination. Golden Triangle refinery employment civilian; LHWCA and FECA not applicable. At 73, Hector is past Social Security's full retirement age, so SSDI is not a track.

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 Texas work is supported by a proprietary database of 200,000+ verified asbestos exposure sites built over more than a decade — including the trusts' Texas lists, with more than 7,500 entries across 731 communities, the largest single-state body of exposure documentation we maintain. Thousands of our clients worked at Texas job sites.

Texas is our home state. Our firm is headquartered in Round Rock. Texas asbestos work is at the heart of our practice.
Filing during life. Standard practice to preserve the worker's own claim and testimony, which the family's later claims depend on. Call as soon as possible after diagnosis.
No investigation lag. We often know on day one which trusts apply to your worksite — particularly for Dow Freeport workers, Houston Ship Channel petrochemical workers, Golden Triangle refinery workers, Gulf Coast insulation contractor employees, federal-installation workers, and the broader Texas industrial workforce.
Pleading strategy built for Texas law. Strict products liability focused on the product and its warnings; the latent-disease carve-out preserving claims against asbestos product manufacturers; trust filings to pursue the share allocated by defense designations to bankrupt companies; direct suits against non-subscriber employers where applicable.
Coordinated filings. Trust claims, lawsuits, VA, LHWCA, FECA, and Social Security disability, planned case by case with the trial team.
Remote case handling. You do not need to come to our office. A spouse or adult child can call, sign, and manage the case from anywhere in the country.
No fee unless we recover. Contingent fee. No out-of-pocket cost to your family.

Learn more about our firm and asbestos database

Court decisions: 117 asbestos cases from Texas courts

Frequently asked questions

What is the statute of limitations for mesothelioma in Texas?

Two years for personal-injury claims, and never measured from the long-ago exposure. A 2005 Texas law starts the clock for asbestos cases at the earlier of death or the date a qualifying medical report is served in the lawsuit, which is often later than diagnosis. To be safe, treat the deadline as two years from the date of diagnosis.

What is the deadline if my loved one already died of mesothelioma?

Two years from the date of death, and the wrongful-death clock does not extend if the asbestos cause is discovered later. A family that learns three or four years after a death that asbestos was the cause can lose the wrongful-death claim entirely. (A child who was under 18 at the death has until two years after turning 18 for his or her own claim.) If your loved one died of mesothelioma, lung cancer, or unexplained lung disease, call now, even if the cause is not yet certain: we can investigate the cause and preserve the family's options. Most of our calls come from spouses and adult children.

Do I need to know the asbestos product names?

No. Most clients do not. Our database of 200,000+ verified exposure sites nationally, including the trusts' Texas lists, cross-references the worker's job and worksite to the products that were present.

Do I need old employment records before calling?

No. A rough work history is enough to start. We obtain Social Security earnings records, union records, and employer records with your authorization.

Can an adult child call for a parent?

Yes. You do not need a power of attorney to ask questions and start the investigation. If the case proceeds, we work with whoever the family designates.

Will we have to file a lawsuit?

Not necessarily. Some Texas families choose to pursue only trust claims and federal benefits — no courtroom, no deposition. Trust claims often produce substantial recoveries on their own. We follow your lead.

Are trust claims separate from lawsuits?

Yes. Trust claims are filed directly with the asbestos bankruptcy trusts. Lawsuits are filed in court against the still-solvent companies. The two tracks run in parallel, though defendants may seek credit for amounts recovered elsewhere, which we plan for from the start. If you file a Texas lawsuit, Texas law requires you to file the trust claims you believe apply and to share them with the defendants before trial. Trust claims are also how families seek compensation from the bankrupt companies that defense lawyers try to blame.

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

Often yes. If the exposure happened in Texas, Texas courts can often hear the case against companies whose products or worksites were connected to that exposure, and Texas law often applies. It depends on each company's connection to Texas. Many of our Texas clients moved out of state after retirement. We handle the case remotely.

What if the exposure happened at work for an employer that opted out of workers' compensation?

Texas is the only state where employers can opt out. If your employer was a "non-subscriber," you can sue your employer directly, and several of the usual employer defenses are eliminated by statute, though you still have to prove the employer was negligent. Many Texas refineries, chemical plants, oilfield service companies, and construction employers were non-subscribers historically.

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

Take-home exposure cases are filed in Texas. Spouses and children who breathed dust from a worker's clothes, work boots, and tools for years are sometimes diagnosed decades later with mesothelioma. Whether a company owed a duty to a worker's family depends on the era and the facts: one Texas appeals court held that an employer owed no duty to a worker's wife for take-home exposure in the 1950s (Alcoa, Inc. v. Behringer, 235 S.W.3d 456 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2007)). Claims against the companies that made the products are analyzed separately. Our representation includes free asbestos health screening for the family members of every client.

Are punitive damages available in Texas asbestos cases?

Yes, on clear and convincing evidence of fraud, malice, or gross negligence, found by a unanimous jury. The documented record of asbestos industry concealment supports punitive findings in Texas. A statutory per-defendant cap applies, but in a multi-defendant case the cumulative punitive recovery can still be substantial. The cap does not apply to a short list of serious felonies committed knowingly or intentionally.

Where will my Texas case be filed?

Many Texas asbestos cases are filed in the county where exposure occurred, though other counties can be proper, and cases typically go through a statewide asbestos pretrial court before trial. Common venues include Brazoria County for Dow Freeport cases; Harris County for Houston Ship Channel cases (Exxon Baytown, Shell Deer Park, Ethyl, Petro-Tex); Galveston County for Texas City cases (Amoco and Monsanto); Jefferson County for Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Port Neches Golden Triangle cases (Texaco, Gulf Oil, the Port Neches complex), where the foundational Borel case was filed in federal court in Beaumont; Orange County for the WWII Orange shipyards; Nueces County for Corpus Christi petrochemical and port cases; Bexar County for San Antonio federal-military and manufacturing cases; and Dallas County for Dallas-area industrial cases.

What if I served at Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Cavazos, Fort Bliss, or another Texas military installation?

Veterans of these installations may be eligible for VA service-connected disability — available with proof of in-service asbestos exposure and a doctor's opinion linking it to service. Federal civilian employees at the same installations may be covered by the federal employees' program. Both can run alongside a civil case, though federal employees' compensation must be repaid from a civil recovery.

What if I worked at the WWII shipyards in Orange?

During World War II, private shipyards at Orange (Consolidated Steel, which built destroyers and destroyer escorts, plus Levingston and Weaver) built Navy vessels beside U.S. Naval Station Orange, using extensive asbestos-containing materials. Shipyard workers employed by those companies may be covered by the federal longshore program, depending on their work; civilian employees of the Navy itself fall under the federal employees' program instead. The longshore program allows claims against product manufacturers, but settling them takes care: some settlements need the employer's written approval in advance. Trust claims and the civil case run in parallel.

Where did Texas asbestos exposure happen?

Across the state: the asbestos trusts' lists hold more than 7,500 Texas entries in 731 communities, led by the Gulf Coast refineries and chemical plants. Our Texas asbestos exposure sites page profiles the major worksites, lists the trusts that recognize each one with their published mesothelioma values, and lets you search the trusts' Texas lists by name.

Talk with a Texas 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. Our firm is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. Texas is our home state, and Texas asbestos work — built on the foundational Beaumont case — is at the heart of our practice.

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

Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.001 — Tolling for minors.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) — Two-year personal injury limitations.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.0031 — Accrual of asbestos-related injury claims at the earlier of death or service of a Chapter 90 report.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(b) — Two-year wrongful death limitations, accruing at date of death.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.009 — 10-year repose for those who construct or repair improvements to real property.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.012 — 15-year products liability statute of repose.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.012(d) — Latent-disease carve-out preserving asbestos claims.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.062 — Limitations suspended up to 12 months after death.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Chapter 33 — Proportionate responsibility framework.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001 — 50% bar to claimant recovery.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.004 — Responsible third party designation.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.012 — Damages reduction by claimant's percentage of responsibility.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.013(b) — Joint and several liability above 50% (and for specified concerted criminal conduct).
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.003 — Clear-and-convincing-evidence standard and unanimous jury for punitive damages.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.008(b) — Per-defendant punitive damages cap.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.008(c) — Exception to the punitive cap for listed felonies.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.009 — Bifurcation of punitive damages trial.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.0105 — Paid-or-incurred medical expense limit.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.003(a) — Wrongful death available only if the decedent could have sued.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004 — Wrongful death action.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.021 — Survival action.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.301 — Health care liability noneconomic damages caps (not applicable to asbestos product cases).
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 82.003 — Liability of nonmanufacturing sellers.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 90.003, 90.006, 90.010 — Asbestos physician reports, service deadline, and MDL pretrial court.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 90.052–.054, 90.058 — Required trust claims and pretrial disclosure in asbestos lawsuits.
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 95.002–.003 — Property owner liability to contractor employees.
Tex. Lab. Code § 406.033 — Statutory elimination of common-law defenses against non-subscriber employers.
Tex. Lab. Code § 408.001 — Workers' compensation exclusive remedy; (b) exemplary damages for a death caused by the employer's gross negligence.
Tex. Lab. Code § 417.001 — Third-party claims and carrier subrogation.
5 U.S.C. § 8132 — FECA refund from third-party recoveries.
33 U.S.C. § 933 — LHWCA third-party claims, credits, and settlement approval.

Cases

Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp., 493 F.2d 1076 (5th Cir. 1973) — First U.S. appellate decision recognizing strict products liability and duty to warn for asbestos product manufacturers; the foundational case in modern asbestos litigation.
Berkel & Co. Contractors, Inc. v. Lee, 612 S.W.3d 280 (Tex. 2020) — Substantial-certainty intentional-tort exception to workers' compensation exclusive remedy.
Alcoa, Inc. v. Behringer, 235 S.W.3d 456 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2007) — No employer duty to a worker's wife for 1950s take-home exposure on those facts.
Bostic v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 439 S.W.3d 332 (Tex. 2014) — Flores substantial-factor standard applies to mesothelioma; no but-for proof required.
Borg-Warner Corp. v. Flores, 232 S.W.3d 765 (Tex. 2007) — Asbestos causation requires defendant-specific evidence of approximate dose.
Childs v. Haussecker, 974 S.W.2d 31 (Tex. 1998) — Discovery rule for latent occupational disease; for asbestos claims, accrual is now set by § 16.0031.
Doe v. Boys Clubs of Greater Dallas, Inc., 907 S.W.2d 472 (Tex. 1995) — Proximate cause requires substantial-factor cause-in-fact and foreseeability.
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Robinson, 923 S.W.2d 549 (Tex. 1995) — Expert testimony reliability framework.
Ford Motor Co. v. Ledesma, 242 S.W.3d 32 (Tex. 2007) — Producing-cause causation framework for strict products liability.
Gammill v. Jack Williams Chevrolet, Inc., 972 S.W.2d 713 (Tex. 1998) — Expert testimony reliability framework, extending Robinson.
Haygood v. De Escabedo, 356 S.W.3d 390 (Tex. 2011) — Paid-or-incurred medical expense limit; collateral source rule preserved as to jury information.
Moreno v. Sterling Drug, Inc., 787 S.W.2d 348 (Tex. 1990) — Discovery rule does not apply to wrongful death accrual.
Reagan v. Vaughn, 804 S.W.2d 463 (Tex. 1990) — Children's recovery for loss of parental consortium after a parent's serious, permanent injury.
Ruiz v. Guerra, 293 S.W.3d 706 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2009) — Minor tolling applied to a minor's own wrongful-death claim.
Russell v. Ingersoll-Rand Co., 841 S.W.2d 343 (Tex. 1992) — Survival and wrongful-death claims barred when the decedent's own claim was time-barred at death.
Union Pump Co. v. Allbritton, 898 S.W.2d 773 (Tex. 1995) — A product that only furnishes the condition for injury is not a legal (producing or proximate) cause.
Windrum v. Kareh, 581 S.W.3d 761 (Tex. 2019) — Substantial-factor and foreseeability proximate-cause framework.

Last reviewed: October 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.