can you actually sue your employer for asbestos exposure or does it have to be meso first

Frank D. here. Hull tech same as you, Oriskany 71 to 91. Small world.

So I got diagnosed June 2025 and went through the pleurectomy in August. During all that I had to talk to some legal folks about what was available to me. What I learned is you don't have to wait until you're sick to file. A lot of guys file based on exposure alone, especially military service exposure where the documentation is pretty solid. Ship records, duty assignments, all that stuff exists.

The thing is timing matters but not the way you might think. There are statutes of limitations on when you can file after diagnosis, and some of those windows are shorter than others depending on which companies made what. So if you wait until you're actually sick, you could be cutting it close on some of those deadlines. I'm not a lawyer so don't quote me, but the guys I talked to said getting ahead of it while you're still healthy and can gather your service records straight is actually the smarter move.

What worked for me was getting copies of my service records from the Navy showing I was hull tech on the Oriskany during those years. That's your proof right there. You don't need meso yet. You just need the exposure documentation.

Talk to someone who specializes in this. Not trying to sell you anything, just saying don't sit on it thinking you have to get sick first. You might not.

You're asking the right question M. I had the same one after my diagnosis came back in June. Talked with the VA benefits folks and a couple other guys from the Oriskany who've been through this.

From what I understand you can't sue the Navy itself, sovereign immunity and all that. But the manufacturers of the asbestos products, yeah that's a different story. The timing thing matters though. Some states have what they call a discovery rule, meaning the clock starts when you find out the asbestos caused your illness, not when you were exposed. So technically you might be able to file even without a mesothelioma diagnosis if you had other asbestos related disease. That said, most of these claims happen after diagnosis because that's when you've got solid medical evidence.

I got my pleurectomy in August and my VA rep told me there's a lot of guys from the Oriskany who've already gone through this process. The Navy issued asbestos exposure records for our service dates which helped. The manufacturers are the ones with the actual liability insurance money anyway. Our exposure was their negligence, not the Navy's problem legally speaking.

Timeline wise don't sleep on it though. Some of these companies have gone bankrupt and set up trust funds with deadlines. You've got time but not infinite time. The guys I talked to said getting everything documented through VA first, your medical records, your service records, all that takes months anyway.

I'm not a vet and my situation's different since Joe was exposed through his work as a maintenance guy at a hospital back in the 80s, but I've learned a lot sitting in waiting rooms and talking to other families. What strikes me about your question is that you're thinking like a teacher, honestly. You want the facts laid out before you commit to anything, and that's smart. The timeline thing Frank mentioned is real, but from what we've seen the statute of limitations actually starts from when you're diagnosed, not when you were exposed. So you've got time to figure this out without rushing. We didn't move on anything until Joe had his diagnosis in September and even then we took two months just talking to different people before November when he started treatment. One thing nobody mentioned yet is how much the VA benefits and any legal stuff can actually overlap. Joe qualified for some VA stuff that helped with treatment costs, and that actually made the legal side less urgent for us financially. Not saying that's your situation, but it might be worth asking the VA benefits folks specifically if you qualify while you're figuring out the legal piece...

I can't speak to military exposure specifically since my situation was civilian factory work, but I've learned a lot about the legal side in the past few months so maybe some of this helps.

From what my legal team explained when we started looking at options in January, you generally can't sue for exposure alone. The cases that actually go somewhere are ones where there's a diagnosis on record. In my case they were pretty clear that having the peritoneal meso diagnosis from November opened the door, whereas if I'd just had imaging showing pleural thickening or something inconclusive, it would've been much murkier.

That said the statute of limitations thing is real and complicated. It doesn't start from when you were exposed at the shipyard. It starts from either when you were diagnosed OR when you reasonably should have known the exposure caused your illness. Since you got your diagnosis in June that's your marker. But there's also this thing called the discovery rule that varies by state, and military cases might work differently because of federal jurisdiction issues.

The Navy stuff is its own beast though. There might be different rules for suing the government versus the manufacturers. You'd really need to talk to someone who handles military asbestos cases specifically because that's not my wheelhouse.

What I'd say is don't wait around though. Get documentation of everything, your service records, medical records showing the exposure history and the diagnosis. I've been keeping detailed notes of my symptoms since diagnosis and it's helped when discussing treatment options with my oncologist. Having that paper trail matters.