Asbestos Trust Funds for Illinois Workers

Illinois sits at the center of American asbestos litigation. Madison and St. Clair counties draw asbestos filings from across the country, the Illinois Supreme Court has issued several of the most-cited asbestos rulings in the United States, and Cook County juries have handed down a string of large mesothelioma verdicts in 2023 and 2024. For people with mesothelioma, that ecosystem sits alongside the asbestos bankruptcy trusts, which still hold more than $30 billion to compensate workers exposed to products from now-bankrupt manufacturers.

This guide walks through the trusts most relevant to Illinois workers, the venue history that shapes filings, the Illinois-specific case law, and the deadlines that govern when a claim must be brought.

Madison and St. Clair Counties: A National Asbestos Forum

Madison County’s role as a national asbestos-litigation hub is documented in detail by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, which reported that judges and the Illinois Appellate Court “largely ignored jurisdictional constraints” and that by the early 2000s Madison County ranked third nationwide in class action filings per year, behind Cook County and Los Angeles County. In 1995 the Madison County Circuit Court issued a Standing Case Management Order governing asbestos litigation, suspending normal jurisdictional rules and adopting streamlined procedures for mass-processing claims.

The pattern continued through 2024. Per HeplerBroom’s 2025 Status Call analysis, Madison County recorded 882 asbestos cases filed in 2024, while St. Clair County recorded 820, a 22% jump from the prior year that made St. Clair the second-highest asbestos venue in the country. The Institute for Legal Reform also reported that by 2015 only 6% of Madison County asbestos cases involved Illinois residents, down from 10% in 2014, reflecting the venue’s role as a national rather than local forum.

For Illinois workers and their families, the practical effect is that filings in Madison and St. Clair counties are usually handled by attorneys with national asbestos dockets, and trust-fund filings are typically prepared in parallel with the civil case.

Trusts Most Relevant to Illinois Workers

When asbestos manufacturers filed for bankruptcy, courts required them to establish 524(g) trusts funded by company assets to compensate current and future claimants. Each trust has its own scheduled values, payment percentages, disease categories, exposure criteria, and filing procedures.

Because most Illinois workers were exposed to products from multiple manufacturers, a single person with mesothelioma often qualifies for claims with several different trusts.

This is not a complete list of active trusts. More than 60 are currently operating, and an experienced asbestos attorney can identify every trust that maps to a specific worker’s exposure history.

Illinois Supreme Court: The Precedents That Shape Asbestos Cases

Several Illinois Supreme Court rulings define how asbestos cases are tried in the state. They matter for trust filings too, because trust evidence and civil-case evidence are usually built from the same record.

• Simpkins v. CSX Transportation, Inc., 2012 IL 114444. The court held that an employer owes a duty of reasonable care to immediate family members of employees to protect against foreseeable take-home asbestos exposure on work clothes, and remanded for trial on breach and causation. The ruling matters in Illinois household-exposure cases involving spouses and children of railroad, refinery, and industrial workers.
• Martin v. Goodrich, 2025 IL 130509. The court upheld 2019 amendments allowing tort suits against employers for latent asbestos diseases beyond the prior 25-year repose period, a major change for workers diagnosed decades after exposure.
• Thacker v. UNR Industries, Inc., 151 Ill. 2d 343 (1992). The court applied the substantial-factor causation test for asbestos, requiring plaintiffs to show that the defendant’s product was a cause of illness in negligence and strict-liability claims.
• Nolan v. Johns-Manville Asbestos, 85 Ill. 2d 161 (1981). The court reversed summary judgment for defendants on failure-to-warn strict liability for asbestos products and allowed the claim to proceed to trial.
• McClure v. Owens Corning Fiberglas Corp., 188 Ill. 2d 102 (1999), and Jones v. Pneumo Abex LLC, Nos. 123895, 124002 (cons.) (Ill. 2019). The court limited civil-conspiracy liability against asbestos defendants absent direct exposure or product use, and reaffirmed McClure in 2019.

Illinois also follows the Frye general-acceptance standard, not the federal Daubert standard, for the admissibility of expert testimony. That difference shapes how causation experts are vetted and challenged in Illinois asbestos trials.

Cook County Verdicts: 2023 to 2024

Cook County Circuit Court juries delivered several large mesothelioma verdicts in 2023 and 2024 that illustrate the kinds of products and Illinois workplaces still being litigated.

• Theresa Garcia v. Johnson & Johnson (Cook County, 2024). A jury returned a $45 million verdict over asbestos in talc powder products. The verdict was upheld on appeal in April 2024.
• Bruce Torgerson v. John Crane Inc. (Cook County, August 2023, Judge Bridget Mitchell). A jury awarded $40.75 million, including $5.25 million economic damages, $11.14 million wrongful death, and $13.6 million survivor damages, after evidence that the engineer was exposed to asbestos gaskets and packing materials during maintenance work.
• Cipriano Ramirez v. Avon Products (Cook County, July 2024). A jury awarded $24.4 million, including $1 million in punitives, to the estate of a janitor exposed to asbestos-contaminated talc at Avon’s Morton Grove manufacturing facility in the 1980s.
• Dorothy J. Jackson v. A.W. Chesterton Company et al., No. 19 L 009793 (Cook County, 2024). A jury returned a $30 million verdict in a case alleging that Bridgestone/Firestone used asbestos-contaminated talc as a release agent at its Decatur, Illinois tire plant.

Civil filings and trust filings are usually prepared in parallel. People recovering from a Cook County verdict do not lose their right to file with the bankruptcy trusts whose products contributed to the same exposure history, and vice versa. For more on recent state activity, see Illinois mesothelioma verdicts and settlements and the Kroger SSI Taylorville asbestos settlement.

Statute of Limitations: 2 Years, With a Discovery Rule

Illinois personal-injury claims for asbestos-related disease run on a 2-year statute of limitations under 735 ILCS 5/13-213(d). The clock starts under the discovery rule, when the plaintiff knew or should have known of the injury and its asbestos-related cause, not when exposure occurred.

Illinois wrongful-death claims for asbestos disease must be filed within 2 years of the date of death under 740 ILCS 180/2. If the personal-injury limitations period expired before death, no wrongful-death claim is viable.

The picture for occupational-disease repose changed in 2019, when Illinois amended its statutes to allow tort suits against employers for latent asbestos diseases beyond the prior 25-year repose period. The Illinois Supreme Court upheld those amendments in Martin v. Goodrich, 2025 IL 130509, opening a path for some workers diagnosed decades after exposure.

Trust deadlines are set by each trust’s distribution procedures and operate separately from these statutes. People with mesothelioma should not delay either track.

Filing Process

Trust fund claims follow a standard process, though each trust has its own requirements:

1. Diagnosis documentation, pathology reports confirming mesothelioma.
2. Exposure evidence, work history placing the claimant at a site where the trust’s products were used.
3. Claim submission, forms filed with each applicable trust.
4. Review and payment, trusts review claims and issue payments, typically within three to 12 months.

Trust Claims and Other Compensation

Trust fund claims are independent of other compensation sources. Per the U.S. Courts, filing a trust claim does not reduce, offset, or affect:

• Lawsuit settlements or verdicts. Cook County juries have returned several mesothelioma verdicts above $30 million in 2023 and 2024, including the Garcia, Torgerson, Ramirez, and Jackson cases described above.
• VA disability benefits. Veterans exposed to asbestos during military service can receive trust-fund compensation and VA benefits.
• Workers’ compensation. State workers’ comp claims proceed separately.

Most families pursue every applicable source, with an attorney coordinating the filings.

Why an Attorney Matters

Trust-fund claims are administrative, not judicial, but they still require:

• Product identification. Connecting a worker’s jobsites to specific products made by each trust’s predecessor company.
• Documentation. Compiling employment records, union records, co-worker statements, and medical records.
• Filing strategy. Knowing which trusts to file with, in what order, and how to present the strongest claim.

Attorneys who handle Illinois mesothelioma cases maintain databases of asbestos products, manufacturers, and the jobsites where those products were used. That knowledge matters in Illinois because exposure often occurred at large industrial facilities that used products from many different manufacturers, and because Illinois cases are often filed in Madison or St. Clair counties under their established asbestos case management systems.

For occupation-specific exposure context, see pipefitters and refinery workers, and the broader mesothelioma risk by occupation guide. For state mortality and case data, see Illinois mesothelioma statistics.