Non-VA Compensation For Asbestos Diseases – Assisting Veterans In Obtaining Compensation

Non-VA Compensation For Asbestos Diseases — VVA Agreement With ClearTrust Claims LLP
To Assist Veterans In Obtaining Compensation

VVA has been committed since its inception to providing assistance to veterans seeking VA benefits, including for diseases resulting from exposure to toxic substances during military service. Asbestos is such a toxic substance, and asbestos was used for decades throughout the military – in mess halls, barracks, vehicles, HVAC, ships and boats, and in many other uses. The latency period for asbestos disease (the time between exposure and onset of symptomatic disease) is long, up to 40 years or more, so veterans who served at any point prior to the mid-1980s almost certainly had some level of asbestos exposure.

VA benefits are available for service-connected asbestos diseases, and VVA assists veterans in obtaining these benefits. However, there is another source of compensation available to veterans (and non-vets) suffering from asbestos disease – asbestos trusts, created for the sole purpose of compensating asbestos victims, set up by asbestos mining, manufacturing, and using companies. Asbestos trust compensation is unrelated to the VA or to VA benefits, so qualified veterans can obtain this compensation without regard to whether the veteran has applied for, receives, or even has been turned down for VA service-connected asbestos disease benefits.

The asbestos trusts thus provide an independent source of compensation for veterans suffering from asbestos-related diseases, and such veterans are more likely to qualify for asbestos trust compensation than the general population because of the ubiquity of asbestos in the U.S. military. As of the date of this Agreement, there are approximately fifty asbestos trusts with approximately $25 billion available to compensate asbestos victims.

VVA’s mission is to assist veterans, particularly Vietnam-era veterans, in their post-service lives in all ways available to VVA, including obtaining compensation for injuries and illnesses incurred as a result of the veterans’ service. In accordance with that mission, VVA recently entered into an agreement with ClearTrust Claims, LLP (CTC), a law firm devoted exclusively to assisting veterans and others in obtaining compensation from asbestos trusts. Since the asbestos trusts are an independent source of compensation of which most veterans are likely unaware, VVA and CTC agree that helping VVA members and VA benefits clients to access asbestos trust compensation serves to further VVA’s mission.

Pursuant to the VVA-CTC agreement, CTC will provide training to VVA service officers to identify veterans who may be eligible for asbestos trust compensation, will provide, through VVA, educational information about the trusts, and will be available for talks or webinars to local VVA chapters.  CTC will make asbestos trust compensation applications for veterans at no up-front cost to veterans.  CTC will charge any clients referred to CTC under this Agreement 10 percent of any paid compensation, much lower than the typical 25-40 percent, and will pay without setoff any expenses incurred in making the asbestos trust application.

Since VVA’s members served during the period (anytime up through the mid-1980s) for which asbestos trusts provide compensation, any VVA members suffering from an asbestosis-related disease is likely to qualify for compensation.  Diseases for which compensation will be paid range from mesothelioma and lung and other cancers to chronic breathing problems to scarring of the lungs without any other symptoms. Especially for the non-cancer diseases, veterans are unlikely to know about asbestos trust compensation. Contact information for CTC is provided below, and veterans may also contact any VVA service officer for further information. Service officers in your area can be found at https://vva.org/what-we-do/veteran-services/claims-assistance/.

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Frequently Asked Questions
About the Asbestos Trusts and CTC

 

How do I know if I am eligible to collect asbestos bankruptcy trust compensation?

An individual is eligible for payment from asbestos bankruptcy trusts if he or she suffers from an asbestos-related disease and can document exposure to specific company’s asbestos and asbestos generally.  Asbestos bankruptcy trusts have thousands of approved sites that presume you have been exposed to asbestos if you were present at that location.  For example, if you served at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard or the Great Lakes Navy Training Center, Elmendorf Air Force Base or the Air Force Academy, or Oakland Army Base or virtually any Army depot, there are several trusts that will presume that you were exposed to their asbestos without anything more.  ClearTrust Claims will work with you closely to determine whether you meet these medical and exposure requirements.

 

How do I initiate a claim with ClearTrust Claims?

You can fill out a short, confidential questionnaire that ClearTrust will review to make a preliminary assessment of whether you may qualify for trust payments. You can also contact CTC directly by telephone or email (see below). For anyone who has a qualifying medical condition (an asbestosis-related disease), we expect that it will be worthwhile pursuing claims with trusts, although, of course, your claim will still have to meet the exposure requirements and time limits for filing claims. ClearTrust, with your assistance, will help you establish the medical and exposure requirements of asbestos bankruptcy trusts. ClearTrust has a separate web-based system for clients of ClearTrust that will allow you to upload information and documents. ClearTrust Claims will be there to answer any questions, cure any claim deficiencies, and guide you through the process. ClearTrust will put the trust applications together; you will need only to provide information and perhaps some documents.

 

What materials do I need to file a claim? How long does the claim submission process take?

The trust application process with ClearTrust has two phases. The first phase is the creation of applications, which ClearTrust will do with your assistance. This process requires us to obtain military service records, civilian employment information, and medical documentation. We are somewhat dependent on how quickly government records depositories and doctors provide us with documentation. It is not possible to predict how long an individual application will take to prepare, but experience tells us that the time frame is usually a two to three months.

Once the application is submitted, there is often back-and-forth between us and the trusts clarifying or providing additional information. Once the application is complete from the point of view of the trust, the claim is approved. Only if we are unable to correct all the deficiencies, then the claim is denied.

 

How long does it take to receive payment from asbestos compensation trusts?

Once a claim has been approved by an asbestos trust, most trusts will provide payment within three or four months.

 

Is my medical data and other personal information safe and secure on the ClearTrust Claims site?

Absolutely.  Clients of ClearTrust Claims are provided access to a separate, secure website through which you will be providing information. All the information you provide, as well as all of the information (medical, employment, military, and anything else) collected on your behalf, is stored in a secure database accessible only to authorized ClearTrust partners and employees. The ClearTrust Claims team has a combined 40+ years of experience in designing and implementing Internet-based systems for law firms and businesses, and is fully up to date on current data security issues, laws, and requirements. ClearTrust’s electronic systems have been designed from the ground up with these data security rules and requirements in place.

 

How does ClearTrust Claims charge for filing my claims and facilitating payment?

You pay nothing for ClearTrust Claims to file trust applications on your behalf.  For any successful claim, in which an asbestos trust approves your claim, ClearTrust Claims will charge ten (10) percent of the trust award.  You will keep 90 percent of the award. ClearTrust Claims will pay any expenses incurred in submitting applications; expenses will not be charged to you.

 

How do I contact ClearTrust Claims?

Call: (202)449-7681;  Email: info@ctc.com; or visit our website: www.cleartrustclaims.com

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Geoffrey Bestor
ClearTrust Claims Chief Legal Officer

Geoffrey Bestor is the Chief Legal Officer of ClearTrust Claims. He has been a lawyer for 40 years, in both government and in private practice. He served from 2007 to 2009 as Staff Director of the Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs. He served for 10 years in the United States Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General. Since his time as a Congressional staffer, Mr. Bestor has, among other things, represented veterans in making claims to asbestos trusts.

Mr. Bestor learned from his veteran clients and his Hill experience that veterans (and civilians, for that matter) for the most part were unaware of the availability of asbestos trust compensation. In addition, lawyers generally charged the same fees (typically 25-40 percent) to file claims as for filing lawsuits in court even though asbestos trust claims do not involve court litigation (e.g., depositions) or the risk of trial. ClearTrust Claims was created to help veterans and others obtain the asbestos trust compensation they deserve at a minimum cost for legal representation.

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