Asbestos Trust Fund Claims
- Included: work-history review, matching your exposure to the specific manufacturer trusts that apply, completed claim forms, and follow-up with each trust's claims processor.
- Speed: many trust claims resolve in months, not the years a courtroom lawsuit can take, though payout timing depends on each trust's own claims backlog.
- Cost: contingency fee — no upfront charge, and no fee unless a trust or defendant pays your claim.
- Cases accepted: a confirmed mesothelioma or related asbestos disease diagnosis tied to work at a Philadelphia shipyard, refinery, plant, or job site.
- Booking: call (215) 810-0199 for a free case review, or ask for a home or hospital visit if travel is hard during treatment.
Trust fund claims exist because companies that made or installed asbestos products — pipe insulation, gaskets, boiler lagging, fireproofing — filed bankruptcy under the weight of asbestos lawsuits and were ordered by federal bankruptcy courts to fund trusts for future victims. **A trust claim is filed with the trust itself, not with the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas**, so it moves on a different, often faster track than a courtroom case. Work at the former Cramp Shipbuilding Company site in Port Richmond, the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard at the Navy Yard, or the Girard Point refinery complex commonly involved insulation and gasket products from manufacturers that no longer exist as operating companies — which is exactly the situation trust funds were built to cover.
A trust claim fits when your exposure traces to a company that is bankrupt; a lawsuit fits when a solvent company — a property owner, contractor, or supplier still in business — bears responsibility and can be sued in Philadelphia's Complex Litigation Center. Most Philadelphia mesothelioma cases involve exposure from several sources over a career, so it is common to file trust claims against multiple bankrupt manufacturers while a separate lawsuit proceeds against any solvent defendant. The trade-off: trust payouts are often set at a smaller, more predictable amount than a jury verdict, but they arrive with less delay and without a trial.
**The harder part is usually the paperwork, not the law** — proving you worked with a specific manufacturer's product decades ago at a union hall, a Delco jobsite, or a Philadelphia plant in Nicetown-Tioga or Frankford, when co-workers have died and employers have closed. We build that work history from union records, Social Security earnings statements, discharge papers, and co-worker affidavits, then match it against the exposure criteria each trust requires. A diagnosis from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Fox Chase Cancer Center, or the Philadelphia VA Medical Center is the medical anchor for the claim; the work history is what connects that diagnosis to a specific trust.
Filing deadlines differ trust by trust, and some trusts periodically lower their payout percentage as funds are depleted, so waiting costs real money, not just time. Filing does not add a court appearance or a deposition to a family's plate while someone is in treatment — most of the work happens on paper, with updates given plainly, not buried in legal language.
Call (215) 810-0199Asbestos Trust Fund Claims pricing in Philadelphia
| Single trust fund claim filing | Contingency fee, no upfront cost — exact percentage confirmed at consultation |
| Multi-trust claim package (several bankrupt manufacturers) | Contingency fee, ballpark range confir |
Exact price confirmed free on-site before any work.