Navy & Shipyard Veteran Claims Eddystone

A Navy veteran does not have to choose between the VA and a lawsuit. VA disability compensation for service-connected mesothelioma can reach the 100% rating, and a surviving spouse may receive DIC, currently set at a monthly federal rate over $1,600. Those payments come from the federal government. Separately, more than 60 asbestos bankruptcy trusts hold funds set aside by the manufacturers of insulation, gaskets, pumps, and boiler products used on Navy ships and at the yards. A single veteran's case often involves several trust filings plus VA benefits at the same time, and one does not cancel out the other.

Eddystone sits on the Delaware River, and many local men worked afloat or at the waterfront before retiring near Leiperville, Village Green, and the Ridley Park border. Shipboard asbestos exposure was heaviest in engine rooms, boiler rooms, and pump spaces, where insulation was cut and re-wrapped in tight compartments with little ventilation. Ratings such as boiler tender, machinist's mate, pipefitter, and hull technician carried the highest exposure. The same insulation and gasket products traveled from Navy ships to the Baldwin-Eddystone industrial complex and the power stations along the river, so a veteran's civilian job at the old Baldwin Locomotive Works site or the Eddystone Generating Station can add to the exposure record that supports a claim.

Here is how the work moves. First, the discharge record (DD-214) and service history establish the ship, the years aboard, and the rating. Second, medical records from the treating oncologist confirm the mesothelioma diagnosis, which VA recognizes as caused by asbestos. Third, the VA disability or DIC claim is prepared and filed for expedited review. Fourth, product identification links the specific insulation and gasket brands to trusts and to any solvent-company lawsuit. Fifth, filings go out and payments arrive on separate tracks. Because Michael Schafle, Esq. meets veterans at the kitchen table or hospital bedside across Woodlyn, Crum Lynne, and the Prospect Park and Norwood borders, a sick veteran does not have to travel to a downtown office to start.

If a veteran is still living, the VA claim plus a personal-injury lawsuit and trust filings run together for the veteran's benefit. If a Navy veteran has already passed, the surviving spouse or adult child pursues DIC through the VA and a wrongful-death claim plus trust filings through the estate. VA benefits and civil recovery are counted separately, so accepting one does not forfeit the other, and the VA fee rules mean the disability filing itself is handled without a charge to the veteran.