New Law Helps Illinois Mesothelioma Victims’ Survivors

Punitive damages are frequently assessed against companies judged liable for an individual’s mesothelioma. Different from economic or compensatory damages, punitive damages are specifically meant to punish those responsible for actions – or inactions – that are deemed to be malicious. Examples include situations where companies knew of asbestos’ dangers and have extended protections from it for their own employees, but not for those who use it elsewhere. Up until recently, these damages were not available to those in the state of Illinois who were seeking wrongful death claims, but a new law has made a significant change.

Illinois Mesothelioma Victims’ Survivors Can Now Ask for Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are not available in every state, and mesothelioma victims in the state of Illinois have previously been barred from pursuing them, even in the most egregious situations. But a recently passed state law has changed that, allowing those who are pursuing wrongful death claims to add punitive damages to the compensation that they ask juries to award.

Illinois had been one of only 16 states that prevented mesothelioma victims’ family members and others from pursuing punitive damages in connection with wrongful death claims.
The state’s courts indicated that the right to pursue compensation for malicious actions was limited to the individual who had been harmed.

New Law Provides Remedy for Mesothelioma Family Members

When the Illinois Supreme Court, ruling on a mesothelioma claim, indicated that punitive damages could only be sought after a victim’s death if the state changed its laws, survivors took action and sought help from state legislators. A bill to change the law was passed earlier this year, and in August the state’s governor, J.B. Pritzker, made the law official by signing the bill.

Though nothing can be done to help those mesothelioma survivors who had sought justice in earlier cases, the new law allows anybody who had an active wrongful death claim on August 11^th, and anybody who files thereafter to seek punitive damages from the court hearing their case.