Asbestos trust fund list: payment percentages by trust

Each trust names a full dollar figure for every disease, known as the scheduled value. The payment percentage tells you what share of that figure the trust really pays. In practice, a trust pays the scheduled value times the rate now in effect.

Take W.R. Grace: it shows $180,000 for mesothelioma with a 30.1% rate, which works out to roughly $54,180 for a claim that qualifies. Paddock, tied to Owens-Illinois, pays one of the highest rates right now, at 65% of each claim's scheduled value.

Trusts apply these rates to set money aside for people who get sick later. Rates often drift down as more claims arrive, so filing sooner can sometimes mean a larger award.

The spread from first to last is large. Here are the top five and bottom five posted rates side by side.

Top-paying trusts

Lowest-paying trusts

A bigger percentage is not a promise of a bigger check. What you receive also depends on the scheduled value, the diagnosis, and the exposure history.

Half a dozen active trusts publish no current percentage: Porter Hayden, Eagle-Picher, A-Best Products, J.T. Thorpe (Texas), C.E. Thurston & Sons, and A&I Corporation. With no public rate, there is no published figure to calculate from.

You generally need medical proof of mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer tied to asbestos, plus at least 10 years since the first exposure. Second-hand exposure can qualify too, like fibers carried home on a worker's clothes.

You can be eligible even without knowing where the exposure happened. If your loved one has passed away, a spouse, close family member, or the estate's representative can still file for them.

Many people worked with or near products from several companies, so claims may go to several trusts. In a 2007 to 2011 look at mesothelioma cases, people sent in about 18 trust claim forms, and some qualify for as many as 25 trusts. Each trust pays its own award separately.

Added together, people with mesothelioma average roughly $300,000 to $400,000 overall. One trust alone might pay from $7,000 up to $1.2 million. Mesothelioma tends to pay more than claims for asbestosis or lung cancer.

Most trusts offer 2 review paths:

• Expedited review measures the claim against fixed criteria and pays a preset sum when those are met. It moves quicker.
• Individual review studies the file more closely. It is slower and can end higher or lower.

Every trust sets its own cutoff, commonly 2 to 3 years after diagnosis. That clock is not the same as a lawsuit deadline, which runs 1 to 6 years by state.

Most files are decided in 3 to 6 months, and expedited files may move sooner. During review, a trust can request updated medical information.

Depending on how exposure happened, a person might collect from trusts and still bring a lawsuit. In some states, including Illinois, New York, Texas, and West Virginia, a company that is sued may subtract trust payments from any later verdict or settlement.

The $30 billion figure comes up a lot. It traces to a 2012 to 2013 snapshot that also counted proposed trusts not yet approved, so it should not be read as today's balance. One tracker covering 44 of the 54 active trusts estimates at least about $16.1 billion remains, using reports dated 2021 to 2025.