$30B in Trust Funds: How Much Has Been Paid Out

Asbestos trust funds exist because the companies that made, sold, or used asbestos products went bankrupt. Under Section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code, these companies were required to set aside money to compensate people harmed by their products. The result is a system of more than 60 independent trusts, each with its own claim process, payment schedule, and remaining balance.

For the approximately 3,000 people diagnosed with mesothelioma each year, these trusts represent one pathway to compensation. Understanding how much each trust pays, and how the system actually works, requires looking at the data.

How Asbestos Trust Funds Work

When an asbestos manufacturer files for bankruptcy, the court establishes a trust to handle current and future claims. The trust is funded by the bankrupt company’s assets, insurance proceeds, and sometimes contributions from parent companies or successors.

Each trust publishes a Trust Distribution Procedures (TDP) document that defines:

• Scheduled values for each disease category (mesothelioma claims carry the highest values)
• Payment percentages that determine what fraction of the scheduled value is actually paid
• Filing requirements including medical documentation and exposure evidence

Payment percentages are adjusted over time to ensure the trust has enough money to pay future claimants. As more claims are filed, percentages can decrease.

Payment Percentages by Trust

The table below covers major active trusts with verified or recently published payment percentages. Dates shown reflect trust establishment or plan effective dates where confirmed.

Published payment percentages span a wide range, from roughly 1% at older, drawn-down trusts like Keene to 60% or higher at better-funded trusts. Newer trusts with larger asset bases tend to pay a higher share of scheduled value. Older trusts that have paid claims for decades, like Johns-Manville, have reduced their percentages as their assets have been drawn down.

The Garlock GST Settlement Facility operates differently: instead of applying a flat percentage to a scheduled value, it uses Maximum Settlement Values (MSVs) by disease category. For mesothelioma Category Group 1, the MSV is $298,200.

What Mesothelioma Claims Are Worth

Mesothelioma claims receive the highest scheduled values from every trust because mesothelioma is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure and has the most severe prognosis.

Only about 5% of mesothelioma cases reach a jury. Reported average verdicts skew high because a small number of very large awards pull the average up, so most families should look to trust claims and settlement ranges rather than trial numbers when estimating what a case is likely to deliver.

Filing Multiple Claims

Most people with mesothelioma were exposed to asbestos from products made by multiple manufacturers. A shipyard worker, for example, might have handled pipe insulation, gaskets, pumps, valves, and fireproofing materials made by different companies, each with its own trust.

This is why most mesothelioma claims involve filing with 10 or more different trusts, and it is common to see 20 or more filings for people with long, multi-site exposure histories. Each trust evaluates the claim independently based on the person’s documented exposure to that specific company’s products.

The Largest Trust: Johns-Manville

The Johns-Manville Trust was the first asbestos bankruptcy trust, established in 1988 after the company’s 1982 bankruptcy. It set the template that all subsequent trusts followed.

The trust’s 5.1% payment percentage means a mesothelioma claimant with a $350,000 scheduled value receives approximately $17,850. The percentage has declined over the decades as the trust has paid claims while preserving assets for future claimants.

W.R. Grace: The Libby Connection

The W.R. Grace Trust was established in 2014 after 13 years of bankruptcy proceedings, one of the longest in American history. Grace operated the vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana that contaminated an entire town with tremolite asbestos.

Its 30.1% payment percentage, confirmed by the trust’s own April 2025 payment notice, is among the highest of any major asbestos trust, reflecting the severity and scale of Libby-related exposures. Grace’s scheduled value for a mesothelioma claim is $180,000, which yields an expedited review payout of roughly $54,180 at the current percentage.

How Trust Fund Claims Fit Into the Bigger Picture

Trust fund claims are one part of a broader compensation system for people with mesothelioma. The full picture includes:

These sources are not mutually exclusive. A veteran who worked in a naval shipyard could potentially file trust fund claims, a civil lawsuit against non-bankrupt manufacturers, and a VA disability claim simultaneously.

The Scale of Asbestos Litigation

Asbestos litigation is the longest-running and most expensive mass tort in U.S. history.

Mesothelioma lawsuits accounted for about 48.5% of the 3,931 asbestos cases filed in 2024, per KCIC’s annual report. The average mesothelioma filing named 63 defendants in 2024, reflecting the widespread use of asbestos across dozens of manufacturers and product types.

State-Level Verdict and Settlement Data

Trust fund payouts rarely move in isolation from the courtroom. State verdicts signal where juries are seating plaintiffs in front of deep-pocketed defendants, and where settlement pressure is highest.

Recent filings span Louisiana verdicts tied to Cancer Alley refinery work, Virginia shipyard-related awards, Maryland Sparrows Point steel verdicts, and Massachusetts talc and shipyard awards. Additional activity includes Connecticut Electric Boat settlements, Oregon paper mill and shipyard verdicts, and Minnesota Iron Range mesothelioma awards.