can you actually sue your old employer for asbestos exposure - what I'm finding out

The employer-plus-supplier approach your lawyer is using is something I've seen work well in brake lining cases specifically. What a lot of people don't realize is that many of those suppliers set up asbestos trusts before or during bankruptcy, so even if the manufacturer is long gone, there may still be a fund to claim from. I had a client in 2019 who ended up with claims against four separate trusts from one job site. None of those companies existed anymore but the money was still there.

Michigan's three year statute from date of diagnosis is actually on the more generous end. Some states give you one year, which is brutal when you factor in how long it takes just to get your bearings after a mesothelioma diagnosis.

One thing worth flagging since you mentioned EPP recovery... courts can sometimes accommodate expedited scheduling for mesothelioma plaintiffs. Not always, depends on the judge and jurisdiction, but it's something to ask your attorney about specifically. You shouldn't have to wait years for a resolution when time is genuinely the issue.

Consult your own attorney about your specific situation, but what you're describing sounds like a well-structured case already.

Your lawyer gave you solid advice on the discovery rule, and Michigan's 3-year statute from diagnosis date is actually one of the more reasonable ones. Some states give you as little as one year from diagnosis, so where you live genuinely matters here.

The dual-track approach your attorney is taking, going after both Ford and the brake supplier, is exactly right. We had a case years ago where the primary employer had strong defenses but the gasket manufacturer had a trust fund that paid out within about 14 months of filing. The asbestos bankruptcy trust system has over 60 separate funds at this point, some of them massive, and brake work at an auto plant typically touches multiple product lines which means multiple potential claims.

The "they should have known" standard is actually easier to meet than people expect for your timeline. Internal Ford documents from the late 1970s showing asbestos hazard awareness have shown up in discovery in cases I've worked on. Your 30 years doing the same work is genuinely strong causation evidence, that kind of occupational history is the kind of thing that makes a case straightforward on the medical causation side.

One thing worth knowing... the EPP surgery documentation your medical team is generating right now has real evidentiary value. Keep records of everything.

As always, please consult an attorney for your specific situation. What I can say is that the instinct to move forward on both fronts, treatment and litigation, at the same time is the right one. They don't have to compete with each other.

Your lawyer is steering you right on most of this. The discovery rule, which is what Michigan uses, is genuinely one of the more favorable statutes of limitations frameworks I've seen across the country. Some states I've worked cases in give you as little as one year from diagnosis. Michigan's three-year window under MCL 600.5852 gives families real breathing room, though I'd never count on having all three years available.

The dual-track approach your attorney is taking, going after both Ford and the brake supplier, that's exactly what experienced asbestos counsel does. We had a case out of Wayne County back in 2018 where the employer's primary defense was "we just used what the manufacturer sold us." The product liability angle against the supplier became the stronger claim. Sometimes that's just how it shakes out.

One thing worth knowing. Even if a manufacturer went bankrupt decades ago, there are asbestos trust funds set up specifically to pay claims. Some of those trusts have paid out billions since the 1990s. Your lawyer can file trust claims simultaneously with any active litigation, and a lot of clients don't realize those are separate processes running at the same time.

The part about Ford knowing by the 1980s... honestly the documentary evidence on corporate knowledge in the auto industry is pretty damning. Internal memos, industry studies going back to the 1930s. That's typically not the hard part of these cases.

Focus on your recovery. Get your records organized if you can, employment records especially. And please do consult an attorney about your specific situation, which it sounds like you already have. Just make sure they're running trust claims alongside the litigation.

Carl, the point about Ford being around is actually a double-edged thing in litigation. Yeah, they're solvent, so there's a real defendant with real money. But solvent defendants also have the resources to fight hard and drag things out. I had a client in 2019 whose case against a bankrupt supplier resolved in about 14 months through trust fund claims, while the live corporate defendant took nearly four years to settle.

So sometimes the trust fund piece moves faster even though it sounds like the consolation prize.

The other thing nobody's mentioned yet is the deposition of co-workers. If you can find guys who worked alongside you at Dearborn doing the same brake work, their testimony about what the conditions were actually like can be more powerful than any document. We've located former plant workers through union pension records before, and that's changed the trajectory of cases.

Talk to your lawyer specifically about that. It varies by jurisdiction how much weight it carries, but in my experience it matters.