If you have recently lost a loved one to mesothelioma cancer, you are undoubtedly going through a range of difficult emotions. Losing a loved one under any circumstances is one of the most difficult things that can happen to us. When you lose a loved one to cancer that may have been caused by their exposure to toxic materials at their job, it can be even more difficult and frustrating. To make matters even worse, with mesothelioma, the exposure to asbestos may have been as long as 30 years ago or more. While mesothelioma may take years, even decades, to metastasize into cancer, it can turn deadly rather quickly. Understandably, the surviving family members are left feeling angry and frustrated as well as financially unstable sometimes due to the death of their loved one.
Clearly, people should not be subjected to cancer causing materials as a result of simply doing their jobs. The federal government finally initiated regulations governing the use and exposure to asbestos in the 1980’s – many decades after the first indications were discovered that asbestos was potentially deadly. For many, however, these regulations came too late. If your loved one died from mesothelioma, it could be that their exposure to the asbestos that caused the cancer dates back to the 1970’s or even before then. Unlike many other cancer causing agents, asbestos can be present in your system for decades before it finally turns your cells to cancer causing cells. For this reason, many family members of mesothelioma victims believe that it is too late to do anything about the cause of the mesothelioma. That may not be the case in the State of California.
While it is true that most lawsuits for wrongful must be commenced within a short time from the date of the accident or injury that caused the death, in the case of a death caused by exposure to asbestos the statute of limitations (time to initiate the lawsuit) is a little different. California Code Section 340.2 reads as follows:
(c) In an action for the wrongful death of any plaintiff’s
decedent, based upon exposure to asbestos, the time for commencement
of an action shall be the later of the following:
(1) Within one year from the date of the death of the plaintiff’s
decedent.
(2) Within one year from the date the plaintiff first knew, or
through the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known, that
the death was caused or contributed to by such exposure.
What this may mean for you as a surviving family member is that regardless of whether the exposure to asbestos was 30 years ago, if your family member recently passed away as a result of that exposure, you may still be entitled to file as a claimant in a California wrongful death lawsuit says California mesothelioma lawyer Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates.
As a claimant in a wrongful death lawsuit, you may be entitled to compensation for the loss of financial as well as emotional support due to the death of your loved one. If someone else was responsible for the death of your loved one, you owe it to yourself and your family to hold them accountable. For a free detailed evaluation of your potential mesothelioma wrongful death case, contact California mesothelioma lawyer Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates at 1-800-300-0001 or online at www.ledgerlaw.com.
