Asbestos Exposure in South Carolina

South Carolina’s history with asbestos includes:

• Shipbuilding
• Naval operations
• Asbestos textile manufacturing
• Industrial maintenance
• Construction
• Federal industries facilities

These settings could involve insulation, piping, gaskets, packing, building materials, and other products historically made with asbestos.

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma following exposure in South Carolina, you may be eligible for multiple forms of compensation.

Compensation for Asbestos Exposure in South Carolina

A mesothelioma diagnosis can lead to more than one potential compensation route. Which options may apply depends on where and how exposure occurred, the companies or products involved, military service, employment history, filing deadlines, and other facts.

Many victims of asbestos exposure in South Carolina are entitled to multiple forms of compensation. Identifying and pursuing every form of assistance and compensation you qualify for is the best way to secure the maximum compensation you deserve.

Common options for compensation in South Carolina include:

• Personal-Injury Lawsuit: A person diagnosed with mesothelioma may be able to pursue a civil claim against companies alleged to be legally responsible for asbestos exposure.
• Wrongful-Death Claim: Certain surviving family members may benefit from a claim brought through the deceased person’s estate when South Carolina’s legal requirements are met.
• Asbestos Trust Fund Claim: Trusts established by certain former asbestos defendants may compensate eligible claimants who meet each trust’s exposure and medical criteria.
• VA Disability Compensation: Veterans may pursue VA disability compensation when evidence connects an asbestos-related health condition to asbestos contact during military service.
• Workers’ Compensation: Some occupational disease claims may qualify under South Carolina workers’ compensation law, which has rules and deadlines separate from civil asbestos litigation.

Our dedicated patient advocates can help you determine your potential compensation and identify your options, based on your unique circumstances and exposure history.

Contact us today for a free case evaluation.

Eligibility Requirements for Compensation in South Carolina

Injured workers and their loved ones must meet strict eligibility requirements to qualify for compensation in South Carolina.

These requirements can vary depending on the type of compensation you choose to pursue.

However, there are general eligibility requirements that most types of compensation share:

• Proof of Exposure: Documentation showing exposure to specific asbestos-containing products or presence at work sites where asbestos was used
• Medical Eligibility: An asbestos-related illness diagnosis backed by documentation and testing that links the condition to the patient’s exposure history
• Statute of limitations: The deadline to file for both personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits in Rhode Island is 3 years following diagnosis or death.

Proving eligibility requires significant documentation, and the burden of proof is on the victim. The following forms of documentation can provide critical support for your claim.

• Medical records
• Proven diagnosis
• Death certificate
• Employment records
• Eyewitness accounts
• Paystubs

Finding the documents you need to build a strong claim can be challenging, especially in mesothelioma cases, where it can take decades to develop symptoms after asbestos exposure.

It’s okay if you don’t have every form of documentation listed above. Asbestos litigation experts can help you find the information you need. If you think you have a claim, reach out to us now and let us help determine your eligibility.

Mesothelioma Settlements & Verdicts in South Carolina

South Carolina claimants have secured multiple large settlements and verdicts worth several million in compensation in recent years: an encouraging trend for those considering compensation claims in the state.

An average mesothelioma settlement claim in South Carolina is $1 million to $1.4 million, per Mealey’s Litigation Report.

Settlement and verdict amounts can vary widely depending on the circumstances of the case. Speaking to an asbestos litigation expert can help clarify what your claim could be worth.

Exposure Risks in South Carolina

South Carolina’s heavily documented asbestos history includes several different work environments. The likelihood and extent of exposure depend on the actual tasks, materials, work conditions, and time period—not simply the name of an employer or jobsite.

Shipyard and Naval Work

Shipbuilding and repair historically involved extensive piping, machinery, boilers, electrical systems, and insulated equipment.

The former Charleston Naval Shipyard was part of the Charleston Naval Complex, where Navy closure records later documented asbestos surveys and abatement.

Veterans and civilian workers who performed shipyard, maintenance, insulation, demolition, or construction work may have encountered asbestos-containing materials.

The VA currently identifies shipyard work, construction, carpentry, demolition, mining, and milling among occupations associated with possible military asbestos exposure.

Asbestos-Textile Manufacturing

South Carolina was the site of a heavily studied asbestos-textile workforce. A 1994 follow-up study described workers employed at a Charleston asbestos-textile plant, while later research continued to evaluate the cohort and documented mesothelioma cases among workers.

Smithsonian records separately document General Asbestos & Rubber Company facilities and projects in Charleston and North Charleston during the early 20th century.

Industrial Maintenance

Maintenance workers could disturb old insulation, gaskets, packing, piping, and other equipment during repair or replacement. The South Carolina Supreme Court’s Keene opinion provides a specific Spartanburg example, describing maintenance and repair around asbestos-insulated piping at a polyester manufacturing plant.

Construction and Demolition

Older industrial, military, commercial, and residential structures may contain legacy asbestos materials. Work involving renovation or demolition can disturb those materials if they are not appropriately identified and controlled.

The VA also lists construction, carpentry, and demolition among occupations associated with possible asbestos contact during military service.

Secondary or Take-Home Exposure

Wherever there were asbestos workers, there were also family members and loved ones who were also potentially at risk for mesothelioma due to secondary exposure.

Asbestos particles cling easily to hair, skin, and clothing, allowing them to enter homes where unsuspecting spouses and children may encounter them during routine household chores, such as laundry.

Top Exposure Sites in South Carolina

The locations below have South Carolina connections supported by government, court, archival, or peer-reviewed records. A site’s inclusion does not establish that every person who worked there was exposed or that a particular company is legally responsible for an illness.

• Charleston Naval Shipyard/Charleston Naval Complex: Navy records identify the naval shipyard as part of the complex and state that asbestos surveys were completed and abatement was underway during the BRAC closure process.
• General Asbestos & Rubber Co. (GARCO): Smithsonian and South Carolina historic-property records document the General Asbestos & Rubber Company and its North Charleston mill.
• Celanese: The South Carolina Supreme Court described asbestos-insulated piping and a maintenance worker’s asbestos exposure at the plant in Keene v. CNA Holdings.
• Savannah River Site: Department of Energy records document asbestos-related storage and management activity at the federal site.

How to File for Compensation

Mesothelioma compensation can involve civil lawsuits, asbestos trusts, VA benefits, workers’ compensation, or a combination of separate claims. The process depends on which options apply.

1. Meet With a Mesothelioma Attorney:

• An experienced asbestos attorney can review the diagnosis, exposure history, work and military records, potential defendants, jurisdiction, filing deadlines, and available claim options. Because mesothelioma may follow exposures that happened decades earlier, reconstructing the work history is often an important first step.

2. Gather Evidence and Documentation

• Useful records can include medical files, employment and Social Security records, union records, military service documents, product or site information, coworker statements, and estate documents. The right evidence varies by claim type.

3. File the Appropriate Claims

• A lawyer may determine that one or more civil claims or asbestos trust claims should be considered. Veterans may separately pursue VA mesothelioma claims, while qualifying workers may have a workers’ compensation option.

4. Complete Claim Discovery or Review

• A lawsuit may involve document exchange, depositions, motions, and other civil discovery. An asbestos trust instead follows its own review procedure, while VA and workers’ compensation claims are handled through their respective administrative processes.

5. Settlement, Trial, Liquidation, or Benefit Decision

• A civil case may settle or proceed to trial. Trust claims may result in liquidation under trust procedures, while VA and workers’ compensation claims conclude through benefit decisions. Not every claim follows the same path.

South Carolina Asbestos Litigation Rules

South Carolina has several rules that can matter in asbestos cases, particularly because mesothelioma may be diagnosed many years after the underlying exposure.

General statutory periods are only a starting point; the facts of an individual claim determine how the rules apply.

Personal-Injury Filing Period

South Carolina Code §15-3-530 establishes a three-year period for an injury-to-the-person claim. Section 15-3-535 provides that claims governed by §15-3-530(5) must generally be started within three years after the person knew, or through reasonable diligence should have known, that a cause of action existed.

Wrongful Death

South Carolina provides a three-year period for wrongful-death claims, beginning on the date of death. The state’s wrongful-death statute also says the claim must be brought by or in the name of the deceased person’s executor or administrator for the benefit of the statutory beneficiaries.

Jurisdiction and Forum

South Carolina Code §15-5-150 addresses when claims against foreign corporations may be brought in the state’s circuit courts. Among other provisions, it distinguishes claims brought by South Carolina residents from claims brought by nonresidents.

Because asbestos exposure may have occurred across several states, an attorney may need to analyze which jurisdiction and law apply rather than assuming South Carolina is the only possible forum.

Workers’ Compensation Timing

South Carolina workers’ compensation law uses separate deadlines. For an occupational-disease claim, §42-15-40 states that the two-year filing period does not begin until the employee has been definitively diagnosed with an occupational disease and notified of that diagnosis.

Civil asbestos claims and workers’ compensation claims are different legal routes, and the interaction between them can depend on the worker’s employment relationship and other facts.

Treatment Help

South Carolina patients can find mesothelioma-relevant thoracic cancer expertise at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston.

Its Lung & Thoracic Cancer program specifically lists pleural cancers such as mesothelioma among the conditions it treats. Hollings is also South Carolina’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center.

Mesothelioma treatment decisions depend on the cancer’s location and stage, a patient’s health, prior treatment, and other medical factors.

Patients may want to ask their care team whether evaluation by specialists experienced with pleural malignancies or participation in a clinical trial is appropriate.

How We Can Help

A mesothelioma diagnosis can raise questions about old jobs, military service, products, employers, treatment resources, filing deadlines, and whether more than one compensation option may be available.

Mesothelioma Fund can help patients and families organize an exposure history, understand possible claims, identify records that may be useful, and prepare informed questions about their next steps. Eligibility and results depend on the individual facts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Written & Legally Reviewed By

Daniel Wasserberg, Esq. Attorney and On-Site Legal Advocate

Daniel Wasserberg was a New York metropolitan area “Super Lawyer Rising Star” from 2013 to 2018 (attorneys under age 40), and a Super Lawyer in 2019. In 2017, Daniel was named a “Top 100 Civil Litigator” by the National Trial Lawyers organization. This recognition is rarely awarded to attorneys under the age of 40. Daniel is proud to call himself a Trial Lawyer, and is often asked to speak at gatherings of the nation’s leading attorneys, from both sides of the bar.

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