So I'm in Cleveland but my husband is looking at filing in Pennsylvania and I've been doing a lot of research on what evidence matters. From everything I've read and talked to people about, here's what seems to come up repeatedly.
Work history is huge. They want dates, company names, job titles, coworkers if you can remember them. I kept a detailed timeline of my time at Johns-Manville with dates and everything I handled. Medical records showing your diagnosis obviously. Pathology reports, imaging, all of it. They'll want to establish the link between your exposure and what you have now.
Employer records are gold if you can get them. Safety records, product warnings, anything that shows they knew about asbestos exposure. A lot of old companies didn't label things properly or they ignored warnings. That's the stuff that matters legally.
But here's what I learned - you also need witness statements if possible. Former coworkers who can say yes, we all handled that material, yes it was dusty, yes nobody protected us. Even if those people don't want to testify officially, written statements help.
And honestly, talk to someone who handles these cases. They know what holds up in your state specifically. PA has its own rules about timing and everything. I'm not a lawyer obviously, just someone who's had to learn all this the hard way after my diagnosis. The firms that do this work have seen thousands of cases so they know what documentation actually makes a difference versus what doesn't.