Asbestos Wrongful Death Lawsuits

In 1924, Nellie Kershaw became the first person known to die from asbestosis. She went to work at 12 in a cotton mill in Rochdale, England, and within five months she was spinning asbestos in a local asbestos factory. She spent the rest of her short life working with asbestos, the last six years at Turner Brothers Asbestos, part of Turner & Newall. By 33, she was dead. Her employer denied any responsibility. It refused to pay compensation, and it refused to pay for her funeral. She was buried in an unmarked grave, while the company that profited from her labor faced no consequences and its owners grew wealthy.

For nearly fifty years, that was the norm. Asbestos companies made fortunes while workers died painful deaths, their families left with nothing.

Then came Clarence Borel.

Borel was a Gulf Coast insulator who spent 33 years breathing asbestos dust in refineries and chemical plants. In 1969, sick with asbestosis, he sued the companies that made the insulation he'd worked with. Months later, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, and he died in 1970, before his case went to trial. His wife Thelma continued the fight. In 1971, a jury returned a verdict for her against eleven of the twelve manufacturers, and in 1973, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed it.

This was the first appellate decision holding asbestos manufacturers liable for failing to warn workers. That ruling changed everything. For the first time, families who lost someone to asbestos had a proven path to hold the manufacturers accountable.

Read Clarence Borel's story.

What Is a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

A wrongful death lawsuit allows surviving family members to seek compensation when a loved one dies from an asbestos-related disease, such as mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis.

Learn more about the diseases asbestos can cause.

When someone dies from asbestos exposure, the harm doesn't end with them. Families lose income. They lose companionship. They lose a parent, a spouse, a provider. Wrongful death lawsuits address those losses directly, no matter how the exposure happened—including take-home exposure, when a family member died from asbestos carried home on a worker's clothes. Wrongful death claims are filed by the family for their losses, not the victim's.

These claims are often filed alongside other types of asbestos claims. A survival claim recovers compensation for what the victim endured before death. Trust claims recover money from the bankruptcy funds established by former asbestos manufacturers. Product and premises liability lawsuits target companies that are still solvent. Together, these claims ensure that every responsible party is held accountable and that families receive the full compensation available to them.

See all the legal options available to families.

Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

Who can file an asbestos wrongful death lawsuit and how damages are distributed depends on which state the lawsuit is filed in. But most states recognize the same core categories of eligible family members.

Spouses. Surviving spouses almost always have the right to file. They typically receive priority for both economic damages (lost income, lost benefits) and noneconomic damages (loss of companionship, and in many states, emotional distress).

Children. Biological and adopted children can usually file, including adult children. Minor children often receive priority for loss of parental guidance, and in many states adult children may also recover for emotional loss and grief.

Parents. If the deceased was unmarried and had no children, parents may be eligible to file in some states.

Other Dependents or Heirs. Siblings, grandchildren, or other relatives may qualify in certain states, particularly if they were financially dependent on the deceased. There's no consistent rule here; it varies widely.

The Estate's Role. In many states, the wrongful death lawsuit is filed by a court-appointed representative of the estate (usually called an executor or administrator) on behalf of the family. Even then, a wrongful death recovery usually goes to the family members the state's wrongful death law names, not through the will. A survival recovery is different: it belongs to the estate and passes under the will or the state's inheritance law.

Because these rules vary so much, working with attorneys who understand the laws in your state is critical. We handle wrongful death cases nationwide and know how to ensure your claim is filed correctly, every eligible family member is included, and your rights are fully protected.

See how the laws work in your state.

What Compensation Is Available in Wrongful Death Lawsuits?

Wrongful death lawsuits compensate families for both the financial and emotional losses caused by an asbestos-related death. What's recoverable varies by state: some states allow damages for grief and mental anguish, while others limit families to financial losses and loss of companionship. For railroad workers and seamen, federal law limits the family's recovery to financial losses. The Borel case illustrates the main categories.

Economic Damages cover measurable financial losses such as medical bills incurred before death, funeral and burial expenses, and the income and benefits the deceased would have provided.

By the time Clarence Borel filed his lawsuit in 1969, his medical and hospital bills had reached several thousand dollars. His workers' compensation settlement covered only a fraction of that. He was earning $5.45 an hour as a union insulator when his illness forced him to stop working—wages his family would never recover. After he died, Thelma faced funeral expenses on top of everything else, without the income Clarence had provided for 36 years of marriage.

Noneconomic Damages address the human losses that don't come with receipts, such as the loss of companionship, loss of consortium, and, in many states, the emotional devastation of watching someone you love die.

Thelma Borel spent her husband's final months watching him waste away on their living room couch. The man who once wanted to field a baseball team with his nineteen grandchildren couldn't walk across the room. He weighed less than a hundred pounds. She gave him morphine shots for the pain. When defense attorneys came to their tiny house in Groves, Texas to depose her dying husband, Thelma served them coffee. Before the disease took Clarence it transformed their final years together into an ordeal no spouse should endure.

Survival Damages compensate for what the victim suffered between diagnosis and death, including the pain, the lost wages, and the diminished quality of life during their final months or years. These damages are awarded to the estate and distributed to the heirs. A few states limit pain-and-suffering damages in survival claims.

Clarence's final year was defined by suffering. Surgeons removed his right lung. He survived on cream of wheat, Jello, and beef bouillon because he couldn't swallow solid food. He couldn't sit up for more than ten minutes without the room spinning. His deposition had to be conducted in one-hour increments—all his failing body could endure—while lawyers representing eleven asbestos manufacturers crowded his living room, seven of them taking turns questioning him on his own couch. Survival damages ensure that what he went through is part of the recovery, not just what his family lost after he was gone.

Punitive Damages may be awarded when a company's conduct was outrageous, such as knowingly concealing the dangers of asbestos to protect profits. Whether punitive damages are available in a death case depends on the state, and federal law doesn't allow them in FELA and Jones Act claims.

The asbestos manufacturers Clarence sued had known for decades that their products were dangerous. Take Kaylo, the insulation he worked with. In March 1943, the year Kaylo was introduced, the director of the Saranac Laboratory wrote to Owens-Illinois, its maker, that the mix of quartz and asbestos in the product had "all the ingredients for a first class hazard." By 1948, Saranac's animal studies had confirmed that Kaylo dust caused asbestosis. Owens-Illinois kept selling it without a warning, and after Owens-Corning bought the product line in 1958, Owens-Corning sold it without warnings into the early 1970s. Punitive damages exist to punish that kind of deliberate misconduct and send a message that choosing profit over human life has consequences.

Read the 1943 "first class hazard" letter. Learn more about Kaylo.

Wrongful Death vs. Survival Claims

These two claim types are often confused, but they compensate for different things.

Wrongful death claims compensate the family for their losses after the death. Lost income they depended on. Lost companionship. Lost parental guidance. In many states, the grief and emotional devastation of losing someone they love. These are the family's injuries, and the family recovers for them directly.

Survival claims compensate for what the victim endured before death. The pain of the disease. The wages lost while they were too sick to work. The suffering between diagnosis and the end. These damages belong to the victim's estate and are distributed to heirs according to the will or state law.

In Thelma Borel's case, both types of claims applied. Clarence had originally filed a product liability lawsuit against the manufacturers of the asbestos insulation he worked with for decades. When he died before trial, Thelma was substituted as plaintiff and the case continued as a wrongful death product liability suit. The wrongful death claim addressed what she and her children lost when Clarence died, such as his income, his companionship, and the value of their life together. The survival claim addressed what Clarence himself suffered during his final year of lung removal, weight loss, morphine shots, and grueling depositions.

Learn about product liability claims.

Product liability lawsuits are filed against companies that make, sell, or distribute asbestos products. Premises liability lawsuits are filed against the owners of property, such as job sites in which a person was exposed to asbestos. When Clarence filed his product liability lawsuit the law about premises liability in asbestos cases wasn't as well-developed as it is today. Today Clarence's family would likely also investigate claims against the owners of the refineries and chemical plants where he was exposed. Those claims are often possible, but they're fact-specific, depending on the state's law, who controlled the work, and what the owner knew.

Learn about premises liability claims.

Today Clarence's family would also be able to file claims against any companies that formed asbestos trusts to compensate victims. Those trusts exist because of what Clarence started: the wave of litigation his case unleashed directly led to the creation of the asbestos trusts. In fact, 11 out of the 12 companies Clarence sued now operate an asbestos trust.

Learn about trust claims.

Together, these product liability lawsuits, premises liability lawsuits, and asbestos trust claims form a comprehensive strategy that holds every responsible party accountable and that provides compensation for family members of someone whose death was due to an asbestos-related disease.

Benefits for Surviving Families

Lawsuits and trust claims aren't the only sources of help after an asbestos death. Depending on the person's work and service, a family may also qualify for:

• VA survivor benefits. The surviving spouse and children of a veteran who died from a service-connected asbestos disease may qualify for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, a monthly tax-free payment. Learn more about VA benefits and DIC.
• Social Security survivor benefits for a qualifying spouse and children. Learn more about Social Security benefits.
• Workers' compensation death benefits, which can include payments to dependents and funeral expenses. Learn more about workers' compensation.
• Railroad and maritime death claims. Families of railroad workers and seamen have federal claims of their own under FELA and the Jones Act. Learn more about FELA claims. Learn more about maritime claims.

These benefits generally don't reduce what a family can recover from trust claims and lawsuits, and we help families pursue them alongside every other claim.

The Legacy of Taking Action

Some families hesitate to file a lawsuit because they were raised to believe that suing is wrong. Clarence Borel felt that way too. He didn't believe in suing anyone, either. But Clarence realized something important. If he didn't speak up, his coworkers would go through the same thing he did. So he sued. Not for himself, but to protect his friends and coworkers who worked with him.

Clarence would be proud to know his decision is still protecting people over 50 years later.

A few years ago, we began representing a man who had lived just down the street from Clarence Borel in Groves, Texas. He worked at many of the same Gulf Coast refineries that Clarence did, but in the 1970s, after Clarence's career had ended. We used Clarence's own deposition testimony to prove that the same asbestos products his crew installed decades earlier were still present when our client worked there.

One man's decision to take a stand created evidence that's still being used in courtrooms today. The kind of case we build draws on decades of accumulated research, historical records, and testimony to prove what happened and hold the right companies accountable.

Learn more about why families choose us.

Asbestos Wrongful Death FAQ

My loved one passed away before filing anything. Can we still bring a claim?

Yes. Families regularly file after a death, both trust claims and, depending on your state, a wrongful death lawsuit. A separate survival claim can also recover for what your loved one endured before death. The deadlines can be short, so it's best to call soon.

Do we need to open an estate?

Not for trust claims. Asbestos trusts don't require an estate to be opened before they pay a deceased person's claim to the wrongful death heirs. Lawsuits are different: in many states, a survival claim, and sometimes the wrongful death claim, has to be brought by a court-appointed representative, so an estate may need to be opened. We'll tell you whether your family needs one and handle the process if you do.

What if my loved one had already filed or settled a claim before they died?

It can still be handled, but it changes the picture. A claim your loved one brought during life and a wrongful death claim the family brings are different things, and a prior settlement may affect one without ending the other. We sort out what's already been done and what's still open.

Who in the family actually receives the compensation?

That depends on your state. Most states give priority to a surviving spouse and children. A wrongful death recovery usually goes to the family members your state's wrongful death law names, while a survival recovery goes through the estate under the will or the state's inheritance law. We make sure every eligible family member is included.

How long do we have to file after a death?

It depends on your state. In many states, the wrongful death clock starts on the date of death. A few states, including California, start it later, when the family learned or should have learned that asbestos caused the death. Others, like Texas, run strictly from the date of death, even if the family only learns about asbestos years afterward. And in some states, if your loved one's own deadline had already passed before death, the family's claim may be barred too. Some windows are short, so call promptly rather than waiting.

Can we still recover if the exposure was decades ago and the companies are bankrupt?

Yes. Bankrupt makers commonly set up trusts that still pay families today; of the twelve companies Clarence Borel sued, eleven now operate one. Solvent parties and premises owners may remain reachable on top of those trust claims.