A mesothelioma lawyer Norristown families turn to handles asbestos-injury claims for workers exposed decades ago in boiler rooms, shipyards, refineries, and plants along the Schuylkill corridor. Michael Schafle, Esq.
A mesothelioma lawyer in Norristown is an attorney who represents Montgomery County residents diagnosed with asbestos-caused cancer and pursues compensation from the companies that produced or installed the asbestos, through lawsuits, settlements, and asbestos trust-fund claims.
Focused representation for Norristown & Montgomery County, each matter handled with the same diligence, discretion, and preparation.
A civil personal-injury suit against the manufacturers of the asbestos products a worker handled, filed in Pennsylvania court. Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524 most claims must be filed within 2 years of the mesothelioma diagnosis. The complaint typically names multiple defendants because a boilermaker or pipefitter touched dozens of asbestos-containing products across a career.
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Claims against the roughly 60 court-approved bankruptcy trusts that hold an estimated $30 billion set aside by companies that made asbestos insulation, gaskets, and joint compound. Each trust publishes a payment schedule and a payment percentage, so a claim worth $200,000 on paper might pay 25% of that. Most exposed workers qualify for several trusts at once.
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Actions brought by a surviving spouse, child, or estate when a family member has died of mesothelioma. Pennsylvania allows both a wrongful-death claim (for the family's losses) and a survival claim (for the deceased's own pain and lost earnings). The wrongful-death filing clock is 2 years from the date of death, separate from the diagnosis deadline.
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Help for veterans exposed to asbestos aboard ships, in engine rooms, or at shore installations. The VA rates active mesothelioma at 100% disability and may pay Dependency and Indemnity Compensation to survivors. A VA claim is separate from and does not offset a lawsuit or trust recovery, so many veterans pursue both.
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The evidence work that identifies where the asbestos exposure occurred: reviewing job history, union records, Social Security earnings statements, and product identification from co-workers. For a retired tradesman who worked several sites across the Schuylkill Valley, this step reconstructs which companies' products were present at each job over 30 or 40 years.
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Claims for spouses and children who were exposed to fibers carried home on a worker's clothes, hair, and boots. Someone who laundered a pipefitter's dusty work clothes for years may develop mesothelioma without ever entering a plant. These household-exposure cases follow the same 2-year diagnosis deadline and the same trust and lawsuit paths.
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Settling with defendants before trial, which resolves the large majority of asbestos cases nationally. Negotiation weighs the strength of product identification, the client's age and medical prognosis, and the paying capacity of each defendant. Settlements can be reached individually with each named company, so partial recovery often begins arriving while other defendants are still negotiating.
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An initial case evaluation to determine whether a claim exists, which companies may be responsible, and how much filing time remains under the statute. There is no charge for the review and no fee unless money is recovered, because the case runs on a contingency arrangement.
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Admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania · Bar No. 94298. Pennsylvania (January 12, 2005)
Verify →Temple University Beasley School of Law · 2004
Tell us what happened. You'll get a straight answer about your options in Norristown, no cost, no obligation, and nothing leaves this office.
Not a call center, not a hand-off to a paralegal. The Norristown attorney who takes your case is the one who handles it.
On contingency matters you pay nothing up front, our fee comes out of the recovery only if we win. If we don't, you owe us nothing.
The right path depends on where the exposure happened and how much time remains. If a diagnosed worker was exposed on the job at a solvent company that still exists, a civil lawsuit against the product manufacturers usually recovers the most, though a trial track can run 12 to 24 months. If the companies responsible have already gone bankrupt, an asbestos trust-fund claim is faster, often paying in a few months, but each trust pays a fixed percentage of its scheduled value rather than a full jury figure.
If the client is a Navy or shipyard veteran, a VA disability claim runs alongside either option and does not reduce the lawsuit money. If a diagnosed person has already passed, the surviving spouse or children file a wrongful-death and survival action instead, which changes who signs and what the deadline is. The trade-off across all of them is speed versus size: trusts pay sooner and smaller, trials pay larger and later, and most Montgomery County cases end up drawing from several trusts plus a settlement rather than choosing just one.
No confusing rate sheets. Your first conversation is always free.
Every case starts with a free, confidential consultation. No cost and no obligation, just a clear answer about where you stand and what your options are.
On contingency matters you pay nothing up front. Our fee comes out of the recovery only if we win your case, if we don't, you owe us nothing.
Tell us what happened and we'll get back to you quickly, usually the same day. Everything you share is confidential, and there's no cost to speak with a Norristown attorney.
(610) 817-0583
Montgomery County sits on the industrial edge of the Schuylkill River, and the men now being diagnosed spent their working lives in the boiler rooms, gasket shops, and refinery insulation crews that once lined the corridor from Bridgeport up through the Riverfront and Elm Street districts. Asbestos was standard in that work into the 1980s, and mesothelioma surfaces 20 to 50 years after exposure, which is why a retired Hartranft or West End tradesman can be diagnosed today for dust breathed in the 1970s. Meetings can be held at a client's kitchen table or bedside, and filings move through the Montgomery County Courthouse just off Swede Street rather than a distant intake center.
Free, confidential consultations for Norristown & the surrounding area.
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Michael Schafle, Esq.