Asbestos Claims in Midlands Courts
- Before regulated renovation or demolition work begins, South Carolina requires a licensed asbestos building inspector to check the structure, and those records can become evidence in a Midlands claim.
- Someone diagnosed with mesothelioma may ask the court for an expedited trial date under § 44-135-80, which a judge can grant for good cause when defendants are not prejudiced.
- South Carolina’s Asbestos and Silica Claims Procedure Act requires a qualified physician’s report filed with the complaint, and nonmalignant claims must show real physical impairment, not exposure alone.
- For an occupational disease, the two-year workers’ compensation filing period under § 42-15-40 generally starts only after a definitive diagnosis has been made and communicated to the worker.
- Mesothelioma symptoms may not appear for 20 to 40 years or longer, so the three-year lawsuit deadline generally runs from discovery of the illness, not the old exposure.
Asbestos illness arrives decades late. Mesothelioma, asbestosis, and asbestos-related lung cancer often appear many years after the exposure that caused them, which means the person facing a diagnosis today may have been exposed in a plant, a construction job, military service, or an older house long ago. South Carolina law accounts for that delay: under the discovery rule, your filing deadline generally runs from when you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, your illness, not from the exposure itself (S.C. Code § 15-3-535).
A Columbia asbestos exposure lawyer at Shelly Leeke Law Firm can trace your exposure history, identify every source of compensation, including lawsuits, asbestos trust funds, workers’ compensation, and VA benefits, and move at the pace a serious diagnosis requires. Our Columbia office is at 1111 Laurel Street, Columbia, SC 29201, and we have represented injured South Carolinians since 2007. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you pay no attorney’s fees or case expenses unless we recover compensation for you. Our fee is calculated on the gross recovery before expenses are deducted. Start with a free consultation.
Where Asbestos Exposure Happened in the Midlands
Asbestos was used for most of the twentieth century in insulation, building materials, and equipment, so exposure in Richland, Lexington, and Orangeburg counties can trace back to many kinds of work and places. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs points to mining, milling, shipyards, construction, carpentry, and demolition, along with products such as flooring, roofing, cement sheet, pipes, insulation, and brake linings. Common sources of exposure include:
- Industrial and trade work: pipefitting, boiler and furnace work, electrical work, and maintenance in older plants and commercial buildings, where insulation, gaskets, and fireproofing were common.
- Military service: many Midlands residents are veterans, whether they trained at Fort Jackson or served elsewhere. Navy veterans who worked aboard ships faced some of the heaviest exposure.
- Construction and renovation: anyone who cut, sanded, or demolished older floor tile, roofing, siding, joint compound, or pipe insulation.
- Older homes and buildings: renovation and do-it-yourself work in homes and buildings constructed before the 1980s can disturb asbestos materials. A property owner who knew about damaged asbestos and exposed workers or tenants may face a premises liability claim, depending on the facts.
- Schools and public buildings: the federal Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) requires public and nonprofit private schools to inspect for asbestos and keep management plans, a sign of how widely the material was used.
- Take-home exposure: spouses and children who breathed fibers carried home on a worker’s clothing.
South Carolina’s Department of Environmental Services also requires that a facility be inspected for asbestos by a licensed asbestos building inspector before regulated renovation or demolition work begins. Those inspection records, and any missing ones, can become evidence when a recent renovation job is the source of exposure.
Asbestos Illnesses We Handle
Asbestos fibers lodge in the lungs and the linings of the chest and abdomen, where they can cause disease decades later. The conditions we see most often are:
- Mesothelioma, the signature asbestos cancer, affecting the lining of the lungs, chest, or abdomen.
- Asbestos-related lung cancer, including in smokers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notes that smoking makes the lung disease risk from asbestos worse, but smoking history does not defeat a claim against the companies that sold asbestos.
- Asbestosis, progressive scarring of lung tissue.
- Pleural disease, including thickening and plaques that can impair breathing.
Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 20 to 40 years or longer after exposure, according to the National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus. If you have a diagnosis, the legal clock is likely already running. If you only know you were exposed, get screened and tell your doctor about your exposure history, because early documentation matters medically and legally. Mesothelioma and advanced asbestosis are often catastrophic injuries with lifetime costs.
Four Paths to Compensation: Many Families Qualify for More Than One
Most asbestos cases draw on more than one source of recovery, and the order in which claims are filed can matter. These are the four paths we review in every Midlands case.
1. Lawsuits Against Responsible Companies
Manufacturers and sellers of a defective, unreasonably dangerous product can be held strictly liable under S.C. Code § 15-73-10, and a company that knew asbestos was dangerous and failed to warn can also face negligence claims. A product liability claim like this can reach suppliers and site owners as well. Punitive damages require clear and convincing evidence of willful, wanton, or reckless conduct (§ 15-32-520), and in most cases the award is capped at the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000 (§ 15-32-530).
2. Asbestos Bankruptcy Trust Funds
Many asbestos manufacturers went through bankruptcy and were required to fund trusts to pay present and future victims. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 60 trusts with about $37 billion in total assets had been established since 1988. Asbestos trust funds are individual claims, not class actions, they do not require a trial, and they can be pursued alongside a lawsuit. South Carolina’s asbestos claims statute states that it does not limit a person’s ability to make a trust claim that meets the trust’s own criteria (§ 44-135-90).
3. Workers’ Compensation
Occupational asbestos disease can qualify for workers’ compensation, which pays medical care and weekly wage benefits generally set at 66 2/3% of your average weekly wage, up to the state maximum (§ 42-9-10). Workers’ compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against your own employer (§ 42-1-540), and occupational disease claims have their own filing rules (§ 42-15-40). Exclusivity does not protect the companies that made the asbestos products, so a third-party lawsuit can proceed alongside a workers’ compensation claim, and the comp carrier generally holds a lien on that recovery (§ 42-1-560).
4. VA Benefits for Veterans
Veterans with an asbestos illness may qualify for VA disability compensation if they have a health condition caused by asbestos and had contact with asbestos during military service. A VA claim does not prevent lawsuits or trust claims against the companies that supplied the products, because those claims target manufacturers, not the government. Many Midlands veterans were never told their illness could be connected to their service, and gathering service records early helps both the VA claim and the product case.
The Deadline Runs From Discovery, Not Exposure
Deadline warning: South Carolina’s general deadline for personal injury lawsuits is three years (S.C. Code § 15-3-530(5)), and under the discovery rule that period generally begins when you knew or reasonably should have known you had a claim, which for asbestos disease is usually around diagnosis. For nonmalignant claims, the Asbestos and Silica Claims Procedure Act ties the start of the period to discovering a physical impairment (§ 44-135-110). A wrongful death claim is brought by the estate’s personal representative (§§ 15-51-10, 15-51-20) and generally must be filed within three years of the death (§ 15-3-530(6)).
Workers’ compensation runs on its own two-year schedule, and for an occupational disease that period generally starts after a definitive diagnosis has been made and communicated to the worker (§ 42-15-40). Bankruptcy trusts set their own filing rules as well. Because several clocks can run at once, and some are shorter than others, the safest approach is to have your claims reviewed soon after the diagnosis rather than waiting until treatment settles down.
How We Build an Exposure Case
An asbestos case is only as strong as the exposure history behind it. Decades may have passed, employers may have closed, and coworkers may be hard to find, so we start rebuilding the record right away. Our work includes:
- Reconstructing your exposure history from work records, union records, military service records, product identification, and coworker testimony.
- Matching each exposure to the companies and trusts responsible, since many clients have claims against several of them.
- Working with medical and industrial hygiene experts to connect the diagnosis to the exposure.
- Filing every claim you qualify for, including lawsuits, trust claims, workers’ compensation, and VA benefits, and sequencing them correctly.
- Asking the court for an expedited trial date in mesothelioma cases where the client’s health requires it.
How a South Carolina Asbestos Lawsuit Moves Through Court
Asbestos lawsuits in South Carolina follow procedures that differ from an ordinary injury case, and knowing them helps families plan. A May 2019 order from Chief Justice Donald W. Beatty appointed retired Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal as Chief Judge for Administrative Purposes over asbestos litigation in the state courts, with authority to monitor the docket statewide, set schedules, and assign cases. A case filed for a Columbia or Forest Acres resident joins that coordinated docket.
The Asbestos and Silica Claims Procedure Act adds its own steps. Under § 44-135-50, the complaint must be supported by a report from a qualified physician. For mesothelioma, the report must state to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that asbestos exposure was a proximate cause. Under § 44-135-80, a case without that showing cannot be placed on a trial docket, though the claimant has 90 days after the defendant responds to supply it. A mesothelioma claimant may petition for an expedited trial date, and the court can grant it for good cause when defendants are not prejudiced. You can read the full chapter on the South Carolina Legislature’s website.
Most cases resolve through settlement, while trust claims move on their own separate track. Because the process can take time, we work to record a seriously ill client’s testimony early so it is preserved. Under Act No. 42 of 2025, for claims arising or accruing after January 1, 2026, a jury can apportion fault to parties not named in the suit, and under § 15-38-15 a defendant less than 50% at fault pays only its own share. That makes naming every source of exposure even more important.
Shelly M. Leeke and the Workers’ Comp Side of Exposure Cases
Many asbestos cases begin with a worker, and how the claim against the employer interacts with the claims against product makers can decide what a Midlands family recovers. Shelly M. Leeke, the firm’s managing partner, saw that interaction from the defense side first. At Blue Williams, she represented insurance companies in workers’ compensation and auto defense, so she knows how carriers evaluate a claim, assert liens, and push back on causation.
She later moved to plaintiff work at Morris Bart and now represents injured South Carolinians, including clients served from our Laurel Street office in Columbia. Asbestos claims in South Carolina are heavily statute-driven, and her training fits that work: she earned her J.D., cum laude, from Tulane University Law School in 2002 and served as a judicial law clerk at the Louisiana Supreme Court. She is licensed in South Carolina and Louisiana and holds a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Government from Wofford College (1999).
Shelly is the author of The South Carolina Accident Book, was a 2017 Forty Under 40 honoree, and has been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star. She is a member of the South Carolina Bar, the South Carolina Association for Justice, and the American Association for Justice, as well as the Charleston County Bar, the Berkeley County Bar, and Mount Pleasant Rotary.
Areas We Serve
From our downtown office at 1111 Laurel Street, we serve Columbia, Forest Acres, Cayce, West Columbia, St. Andrews, Irmo, Lexington, Blythewood, Orangeburg, and the rest of Richland County, Lexington County, and Orangeburg County. Many retired tradespeople and veterans live throughout these communities, and family members can start the conversation on behalf of someone undergoing treatment. A diagnosed worker who cannot keep working may also want to review Social Security disability options. For injuries not related to asbestos, see our Columbia personal injury lawyer page.
Bring Your Diagnosis and Work History to Laurel Street
Whether your exposure traces to a plant, a construction site, military service, an older Columbia home, or a family member’s work clothes, the companies that sold asbestos products may owe you compensation. Call our Columbia office at (803) 281-6054 to have your medical records and work history reviewed. The consultation is free, and because several deadlines may already be running, it is worth calling soon after a diagnosis.
Columbia Asbestos Exposure FAQ
My exposure was 40 years ago. Is it too late?
Usually not. Under South Carolina’s discovery rule, the three-year filing period generally runs from when you discovered or reasonably should have discovered the illness, not from the exposure. If you were recently diagnosed, you likely still have time to act.
I was exposed but I’m not sick. Can I file?
Generally not yet. South Carolina requires a physician’s report showing an asbestos-related impairment or cancer. For now, get screened, record your exposure history with your doctor, and keep employment records in case illness develops later on.
Can I get workers’ comp and still sue?
You generally cannot sue your employer beyond workers’ compensation, but you can pursue product manufacturers, suppliers, and other third parties at the same time. The comp carrier usually holds a lien on that recovery, which affects how settlements are structured.
I’m a veteran. Does a VA claim affect my lawsuit?
No. VA benefits come from the government, while lawsuits and trust claims target the companies that made and sold asbestos products. Pursuing one does not give up the other, and service records often help prove both types of claims.
My exposure happened in Forest Acres or Orangeburg. Can your Columbia office help?
Yes. We handle exposure claims from Richland, Lexington, and Orangeburg counties from our Laurel Street office in downtown Columbia. A family member can also contact us on behalf of a loved one who is in treatment.
