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A mesothelioma diagnosis can leave you facing treatment decisions, financial pressure, and questions about where asbestos exposure happened years or even decades ago.
You may know that asbestos played a role in your illness without knowing which jobs, products, employers, or worksites are connected to that exposure.
That history matters when pursuing compensation.
Kelley Ferraro, LLC, represents mesothelioma victims and their families in Maryland and throughout the country. We can investigate your work history, identify potential sources of asbestos exposure, and determine whether companies or other parties may be legally responsible.
Compensation in an asbestos case may address losses such as:
If you or a family member has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, contact our Maryland mesothelioma attorneys.
Mesothelioma is an uncommon cancer that develops in the thin lining surrounding certain organs. The most common form is pleural mesothelioma, which affects the lining around the lungs. Peritoneal mesothelioma develops in the lining of the abdomen.
The disease is closely linked to asbestos exposure. The American Cancer Society says about 3,000 new cases are diagnosed in the United States each year. Symptoms may not appear until many years after the original exposure, sometimes decades later.
That long delay can make the source of exposure difficult to identify.
Your recent employment may not tell the whole story. A mesothelioma investigation can require looking much further back through your work and personal history. The goal is to identify the materials you encountered and the companies that manufactured, supplied, installed, or handled asbestos-containing products.
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Many Maryland workers spent their careers in industries where asbestos-containing materials were used.
Steel mills, shipyards, power plants, manufacturing facilities, and other industrial operations could contain asbestos in insulation, pipe coverings, machinery, construction materials, and other products.
Sparrows Point provides one example of Maryland’s industrial history. Bethlehem Steel purchased the site in 1916, and at its peak the mill employed roughly 30,000 people. The mill closed in 2012.
In 2014, a crew was still removing asbestos from one of its buildings, according to the Baltimore Sun.
For former workers, that history may provide an important starting point for an asbestos investigation.
Exposure was not limited to people who handled asbestos directly. Workers could inhale fibers released during construction, maintenance, repair, demolition, or other activities involving asbestos-containing materials. In some cases, family members may have been exposed to fibers carried home on work clothing.
Kelley Ferraro also investigates occupational exposure involving:
Finding the source of asbestos exposure can be one of the most important parts of a mesothelioma claim.
A person may have worked at several companies over the course of a career, moved between facilities, or used products made by different manufacturers. Records may be incomplete, and the companies connected to an exposure may no longer operate under the same name.
Our attorneys can review employment information, job sites, occupations, products, and other available records to develop a history of potential asbestos exposure.
That investigation may reach beyond traditional industrial jobs. Asbestos-containing materials were used in many types of buildings and products, so exposure can involve workplaces such as schools, hospitals, offices, and manufacturing facilities.
Potential exposure histories may involve communities throughout Maryland, including Baltimore, Columbia, Germantown, Silver Spring, Waldorf, and surrounding areas.
A mesothelioma claim may involve multiple potentially responsible companies or sources of exposure. The legal issues can also vary based on when and where the exposure occurred, the products involved, and the circumstances surrounding the diagnosis.
Our attorneys have recovered over $1 billion for asbestos and mesothelioma clients throughout the United States. Past results are not a prediction of what will happen in another case. Every claim has its own facts, evidence, defendants, and legal issues.
For example, in 2021, a Cuyahoga County jury returned a verdict of more than $10.6 million in a case handled by Kelley Ferraro for the widow of a mechanic who developed mesothelioma after asbestos exposure from brakes. That result was specific to that case and does not guarantee a similar result for another client.
Maryland law sets deadlines for civil claims. Under Md. Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 5-101, a civil action generally must be filed within three years after the cause of action accrues, which means the date the claim begins, unless another statute sets a different period.
Mesothelioma cases can raise harder questions about when a claim begins, because asbestos exposure may have happened decades before the disease was diagnosed. The relevant dates may depend on the circumstances of the illness and when its cause was discovered.
Wrongful death claims have their own timing rules. Maryland law generally provides three years from the date of death. When an occupational disease was a cause of death, the deadline is the shorter of 10 years from the death or 3 years from when the cause of death was discovered.
Because the deadline can depend on the facts, a lawyer can review your exposure, diagnosis, and family circumstances to identify the deadlines that may apply.
Maryland does not cap economic damages such as medical expenses and lost wages. It does cap noneconomic damages, which include pain and suffering.
For claims arising on or after October 1, 2026, the general cap is $980,000. In a wrongful death action with two or more beneficiaries, the cap is $1,470,000. Maryland law raises these amounts each October 1.
How the cap applies can depend on the type of claim, when it arose, and the facts of the case. An attorney should review those facts before estimating how the limit may affect a potential recovery.
Some companies linked to asbestos exposure have gone through bankruptcy and set up asbestos trust funds to pay eligible claimants.
A company being out of business does not automatically end an investigation into potential sources of compensation. Depending on the exposure history, there may be trust claims or other legal options worth examining.
Finding those options requires a careful review of the companies, products, and worksites connected to the person’s history.
Kelley Ferraro, LLC, accepts mesothelioma cases in Maryland and across the United States.
Our attorneys can investigate potential exposure involving industrial workplaces, manufacturing operations, construction, shipyards, power plants, and other environments where asbestos-containing materials were used.
We also file wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of surviving family members of individuals who have already died of mesothelioma.
A timely investigation can make it easier to locate employment records, identify former coworkers, trace products, and preserve other evidence that may help show how the exposure occurred.
For more information about asbestos, mesothelioma and types of help available to sufferers of mesothelioma in Maryland and elsewhere, see the following:
You do not need to know every detail of your asbestos exposure before contacting a lawyer.
Bring what you know about your diagnosis, employment, job sites, products, and other possible sources of exposure. Our team can help decide what additional information may be needed.
We offer free initial consultations to mesothelioma victims and their families in Maryland and nationwide.
Maryland generally allows three years from the date a civil claim accrues, under Md. Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 5-101. Because the start date can depend on when the illness and its cause were discovered, a lawyer should review your dates.
Generally three years from the date of death. If an occupational disease was a cause of death, the deadline is the shorter of 10 years from the death or 3 years from when the cause of death was discovered.
Possibly. Workers can be exposed while working around asbestos-containing materials, and family members may have been exposed to fibers carried home on work clothing.
Asbestos exposure is by far the biggest cause. Other, much less common risk factors include erionite, past radiation treatment, and some inherited gene changes.
Many years, and sometimes decades. That long delay is one reason an investigation may need to look at work history from far in the past.
Maryland does not cap economic damages such as medical expenses and lost wages, but it does cap noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering. For claims arising on or after October 1, 2026, the general cap is $980,000, or $1,470,000 in a wrongful death case with two or more beneficiaries.
You may still have options. Some asbestos companies set up bankruptcy trust funds, and a lawyer can check whether a trust claim fits your case.
Yes. We accept mesothelioma cases in Maryland and nationwide, and we offer free initial consultations in person or by phone.
Bring your diagnosis records if you have them, along with what you know about your employers, job sites, military service, and products you worked around. You do not need to remember every detail.
Fees and costs depend on the representation agreement. See our attorneys’ fees and costs page, or ask during your free initial consultation.
A mesothelioma diagnosis can create immediate concerns about treatment, finances, family, and the future. You may also have questions about asbestos exposure that happened long before you became sick.
Kelley Ferraro, LLC, represents mesothelioma victims and their families in Maryland and nationwide. We can review your work history, investigate potential asbestos exposure, and explain the legal options that may be available.
Our nationwide mesothelioma practice serves clients in states including:
Contact us to schedule a free initial consultation.
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in any other case. Client reviews reflect individual experiences and do not predict the result in any other case.
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