Winning an asbestos claim isn't about certainty. It's about meeting a legal standard, the amount of proof the law asks you to show. Understanding these standards helps explain why your case rests on medical records, work history, and expert opinion rather than on a single smoking-gun document.
In most asbestos cases the burden of proof falls on you, and the standard is a preponderance of the evidence, meaning it's more likely than not that a company's product contributed to your illness. That's a far lower bar than clear and convincing evidence, which the law reserves for a narrower set of issues. You don't have to prove a product was the only cause, just that it was a substantial contributing factor to your disease.
Some standards are medical rather than purely legal. The ILO standard is an international system for reading chest X-rays and grading asbestos-related scarring, and it often supports the diagnosis at the heart of a claim.
Every term below links to a full plain-language definition, so you can see exactly what has to be shown and how strong the proof needs to be.
Terms in this category
- Burden of ProofThe burden of proof is the responsibility a party in a lawsuit has to prove the facts they are claiming. In a…
- Clear and Convincing EvidenceA middle standard of proof used in civil cases when the law wants more certainty than usual before deciding a…
- Doubling of RiskDoubling of risk is the idea that if an exposure at least doubles a person's chance of getting a disease (a r…
- Frequency, Regularity, Proximity TestThe frequency, regularity, proximity test is a standard many courts use to decide whether a plaintiff's expos…
- Medical Criteria StatuteA medical criteria statute is a state law that requires a person bringing a nonmalignant asbestos claim, and …
- Preponderance of the EvidencePreponderance of the evidence is the standard of proof used in most civil cases, including asbestos lawsuits.…
Terms in this category
Browse the full Lexicon, or talk it through with a member of our litigation team, not a screener, at 833-4-ASBESTOS.