API, Inc. Asbestos Settlement Trust
Asbestos Trust Funds Claims and Mesothelioma
U.S Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts Funds have paid out nearly 21 billion to more than 600,000 asbestos claimants. There are about 60 active Asbestos Trust Funds with an estimated $32 billion in remaining assets.
Asbestos Settlement Trusts were established to help compensate workers and their families for asbestos exposure causing Mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. When an Asbestos company establishes a Trust Fund all settlements are managed by trustees that decide the compensation amounts paid to Mesothelioma claimants. U. S. Courts allow Asbestos defendants to file for protection under a legal process known as bankruptcy reorganization. This allows the company to pay claims and stay in business.
Asbestos Trust Fund settlements typically do not come with an admission of guilt by the asbestos company that set up the trust.
Global Asbestos Disaster Study Estimates More than 39,000 USA Deaths Annually from Asbestos-Related Diseases.
Specifically, asbestos contributes to 34,270 lung cancer deaths, 3,161 mesothelioma deaths, 787 ovarian cancer deaths, 443 larynx cancer deaths and 613 chronic asbestosis death. Source: www.adao.us
API, Inc. Asbestos Settlement Trust
Facts:
Founded: 1926
Head Quarters: St. Paul, Minnesota
Turn out: Manufacturing and installing of various construction materials, including insulation
Operating status: Still Currently Operating
Asbestos Trust: Yes
Asbestos Trust Fund
After receiving thousands of lawsuits beginning in the 1980s, API Incorporated became overwhelmed with costs. In 2001, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and began working on a reorganization plan.
API Incorporated planned to create a trust fund to handle all current and future asbestos claims. In 2006, the courts approved their plan, and the API, Incorporated Asbestos Settlement Trust was officially established with $94 million.
Currently, claims are handled on a first-in, first-out basis, and the payment percentage for successful claims is 35%. Every case is evaluated on various factors, including age, illness, and exposure.
Asbestos Litigation
In the 1980s, API began to receive a small amount of asbestos-related lawsuits, but by the 1990s, they had 700 lawsuits. API’s liabilities grew quickly because they distributed their products to other well-known companies such as Owens Corning. Between 2001 to 2003, API was involved in two trial verdicts that ended up paying $9.4 million. Soon after that case, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2005.
Occupational Exposure
Since products containing asbestos were highly prevalent in API Incorporated, many individuals, including workers and the general public, were put at risk. Since the company expanded quite quickly, there were multiple locations where individuals may have come into contact with asbestos materials. Some workers were exposed on a routine schedule, and due to effects have asbestos-related health complications. Various occupations that may have been affected include: boiler operators, construction workers, HVAC workers, pipefitters, and plumbers.
History of Asbestos Use
Reuben L. Anderson founded API Incorporated, known originally as Reuben L. Anderson-Cherne Company, in St. Minnesota in 1926. The company initially started as a small family-run business for heating and plumbing.
The company was successful and quickly started to grow. Early on in the company’s history, they began adding asbestos, an inexpensive and highly durable mineral, to their products. It was perfect for the company because the products needed to withstand high amounts of heat, pressure, and chemicals. Asbestos is a group of minerals that contain fibers that stop heat, and companies are allowed to use asbestos as long as it doesn’t account for more than 1% of the product. Reuben L. Anderson was using asbestos in their products way above the legal limit.
In 1948, Reuben L. Anderson-Cherne Company became more heavily involved with asbestos after starting a new company called Asbestos Products. The company sold, distributed, and manufactured asbestos-containing insulation products for industrial use. Their products were sold mainly to North Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. By the 1970s, the name Asbestos Products officially switched to API.
Employees working for API Incorporated were exposed to environments full of airborne asbestos fibers. When exposed to large amounts of the material, it can cause diseases such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, and cancers with severe long-term effects. API Incorporated understood the dangerous effects of asbestos exposure but continued utilizing it in their products through the 1970s.
Beginning in the 1980s, API Incorporated began receiving asbestos-related lawsuits. The lawsuits quickly began to accumulate into the thousands. In 2005, the company became overwhelmed and filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.
The company continues to operate to this day as a multibillion-dollar corporation.
Asbestos Products
API created various products containing asbestos from early on in their company’s history through the 1970s. Some of their most popular products include pipe insulation and wire.
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How Do Mesothelioma Trust Funds Work?
Asbestos exposure victim’s diagnosed with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases can submit their claims to asbestos settlement trusts belonging to the bankrupt asbestos companies responsible for their illness. Surviving relatives of mesothelioma that have died from asbestos exposure are also eligible to submit claims to responsible asbestos trust funds.
After submitting a claim, asbestos trust funds decide whether to pay a claim. The decision to pay a claim is made separate from the company that created the trust fund.
Asbestos Trust Fund Information
- There are more than 65+ Asbestos Trust Funds set up by U. S. Courts.
- Asbestos bankruptcy reorganization can be a lengthy process that can span several years.
- Asbestos Trusts publish additional information about their Trust guidelines, qualifications and rules.
- Representatives of current and future Mesothelioma claimants must consent to any significant changes to these trusts.
- Since 1988, Asbestos trusts have paid out about $17.5 billion representing more than 3 million claims.
- Since 2011, Asbestos Trust Funds have combined assets of $36.8 billion.
- Since 2010, the average percentage paid per asbestos victim is 25 percent of a claim.
- Asbestos Trust Funds set Statutes of Limitations that only allow a certain amount of time to file an Asbestos claim.
- Mesothelioma Claimants can sometimes file both Asbestos Trust lawsuits and Asbestos claims.
- S. Courts must approve the amount that is set aside before the Asbestos company will be granted bankruptcy protection.
Evidence Required to File an Asbestos Trust Fund Claim
Diagnosis: Medical Documentation, including biopsy information, and pathology report, showing claimant is diagnosed with mesothelioma or an asbestos-related disease.
Physician Statement: The victim must also provide medical documentation to confirm the mesothelioma diagnosis, signed off by a doctor or mesothelioma specialist.
Exposure Evidence: Witness affidavits, employment records, company invoices linking a company product or facility to asbestos exposure.
Asbestos Trust Fund Claims
It is very important to contact a Mesothelioma lawyer soon after you have been diagnosed with Mesothelioma. The only known cause of this Mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma is a progressive disease, with a 10-50 year-latency period developing over years or even decades in many patients. Therefore, your statute of limitations does not begin with the time of exposure. Rather, it begins with your diagnosis that you have Mesothelioma.
If you have been diagnosed with Mesothelioma, you have legal rights. But you need to act quickly, because the statute of limitations in most states is 1-3 years.
Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure
- Malignant Mesothelioma is commonly diagnosed in people between the ages of 50 and 75 years old.
- There are 3000-3,500 malignant Mesothelioma cases diagnosed each year in the United States.
- 1 in 3 U. S. military veterans will develop an asbestos related disease in their lifetime.
API, Inc. Asbestos Settlement Trust and Mesothelioma Claims
A person diagnosed with Mesothelioma may be entitled to recover compensation for the following:
Factors that May Affect the Value a Mesothelioma Case Include:
- Age, Gender, Location, and Work History
- History of Military Service
- Pain and Suffering
- Where Asbestos Exposure Occurred
- How Many Asbestos Products are involved with Your Exposure
There Are 4 Primary Types of Mesothelioma Claims:
Product Liability – Can be filed against companies that manufactured and distributed asbestos products.
Medical Malpractice – Can be filed against doctors or hospitals if they misdiagnose or delay your diagnosis of Mesothelioma.
Workers Compensation – Can be filed against an employer if you were exposed to asbestos while on the job.
Wrongful Death – Can be filed against asbestos manufacturers, asbestos distributors, or an employer of a product containing asbestos that directly caused a person’s death if their actions constituted gross negligence for a deceased worker s safety.
How a Mesothelioma Attorney Can Help
An experienced Mesothelioma lawyer will help you to file a Mesothelioma lawsuit to hold negligent asbestos manufacturers and asbestos companies accountable for the severe pain and suffering that comes with a Mesothelioma cancer diagnosis.
Military Veterans Diagnosed With Mesothelioma
Recent Mesothelioma Verdicts
- $4.6 Million Mesothelioma Settlement: For a union insulator that developed malignant Mesothelioma from asbestos exposure.
- $10.2 Million Mesothelioma Verdict: For a Paper Mill worker suffering from pleural Mesothelioma.
- $8 Million Mesothelioma Award: For a man diagnosed with Mesothelioma.
- $1.2 Million Mesothelioma Settlement: For a 76 year-old carpenter that developed malignant Mesothelioma.
- $1.1 Million Veteran Mesothelioma Settlement: For a Navy veteran machinist that developed malignant Mesothelioma at age 71.
- $245,000 Asbestosis Settlement: For a Paper mill worker suffering from Asbestosis.
- $2.5 Million Mesothelioma Settlement: For a union pipefitter man who died from malignant Mesothelioma.
- $2.6 Million Shipyard Worker Mesothelioma Settlement: For the family of a 72-year old shipyard worker with Mesothelioma who suffered secondhand exposure.
- $5 Million Navy Veteran Mesothelioma Verdict: For a Navy Boilerman who developed Mesothelioma during his service.
- $1.8 Million Mesothelioma Settlement: For a carpenter that developed malignant Mesothelioma at age 68.
- $7.5 Million Mesothelioma Verdict: For a woman that developed peritoneal Mesothelioma from laundering her husband s work clothes.
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Settlement Averages for Mesothelioma Lawsuits
The average verdict in a mesothelioma lawsuit is about $2.4 million, and the average settlement is between $1 million and $1.4 million according to Mealey’s Litigation Report.
Malignant Mesothelioma
Malignant Mesothelioma is rare form of cancer that affects lining of the lungs, abdomen, heart, and major organs in the body. Mesothelioma is a disease in which malignant cancer cells are found in the sac lining the chest (pleura) or the abdomen (peritoneum). There are about 3,000 new malignant Mesothelioma cases diagnosed each year in the U. S. If you are experiencing any Mesothelioma symptoms you should contact a doctor immediately.
Diagnosed With Mesothelioma?
If you or a family member has been diagnosed with malignant Mesothelioma you are going to have a lot of questions about living with Mesothelioma and what legal options you have against asbestos manufacturers and asbestos companies for your asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma is a seriously deadly disease. According to the American Cancer Society with the average survival time for people with Mesothelioma is 4-18 months.
Mesothelioma Personal Injury Lawsuit
Can be filed by anyone after being diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer.
Can be Filed against companies responsible for a victim’s asbestos exposure.
A Mesothelioma personal injury lawsuit allows victim’s to receive compensation for pain, and suffering, lost wages, costly treatment, travel, and other and related costs.
Call TOLL FREE 888.640.0914 right now to talk with a live Mesothelioma Counselor that can answer many of your questions and give you the peace of mind that you need.
Family Member Died From Mesothelioma?
If you have a family member that has died from Mesothelioma cancer you should immediately consult with an experienced Mesothelioma diagnosis lawyer about what compensation may be available to you from asbestos trust funds that total more than 30 billion dollars.
Mesothelioma Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Can be filed by surviving family members after the death of a loved one from mesothelioma cancer.
Can be Filed against asbestos companies responsible for a victim’s asbestos exposure causing death.
A Mesothelioma wrongful death lawsuit allows victims to receive compensation for burial and funeral expenses, lost wages, loss of companionship, and other and related costs.
It is VERY IMPORTANT that you file your Mesothelioma claim within your states Statute of Limitations.
We have seen many families lose their right to file a lawsuit because their Statute of Limitations had expired while they were grieving. We know it is a tough time to grieve the loss of a loved one, but please do not let your Statute of Limitations expire for filing your Mesothelioma lawsuit. In most states the Statute of Limitations is 2-3 years. Some states have 6-year Statute of Limitations.
Mesothelioma Latency Period
Mesothelioma has a long latency period of 10-50 years. Many Veterans, Shipyard Workers, Construction Workers, Power Plant Workers, Mill Workers, Steel Workers, Railroad Workers, Pipefitters, Insulators, Electricians, Carpenters, Welders, Auto Mechanics, Veterans, Factory Workers, and laborers are living in the early stages of a variety of asbestos related diseases. Many Mesothelioma lawyers will not accept asbestosis, asbestos lung cancer, pleural plaques, pleural thickening, colon cancer and esophageal cancer cases.
There is More Than 30 Billion Dollars Set Aside for Mesothelioma and Asbestos Victims in Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts
Need a Mesothelioma Lawyer?
If you or a family member has been diagnosed with Mesothelioma or an asbestos related disease, we can help you start a Mesothelioma lawsuit against asbestos companies responsible for your injuries. Our experienced nationwide Mesothelioma lawyers will come to you.
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Workers and Asbestos Containing Products
People that worked in shipyards, refineries, power plants, mills, factories, plants, salvage yards, engine rooms, installing brakes, gaskets, insulation, valves and pipes have a higher risk of developing an asbestos related disease in their lifetime.
How Second-Hand Asbestos Exposure Occurs
When asbestos is disturbed, broken apart, cut, decayed, or damaged, it releases tiny asbestos microscopic fibrous particles that can cling to hair and clothing. These asbestos fibers are easily transferred to others where they can accumulate in the lining of lungs that cause mesothelioma lung
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Asbestos Trust Funds: API, Inc. Asbestos Settlement Trust