How Mesothelioma Cases Really Get Built

Mesothelioma commercials make it sound like there’s one easy path to compensation, but the real work happens in the details most people never see. We sit down with Leslie Cooper, a mesothelioma investigator with 23 years of experience and roughly 1,000 client interviews, to explain how a strong case actually gets built from the first in-home meeting forward.

We talk through why mesothelioma is rare, why these lawsuits are not class actions, and why one client often has multiple defendants tied to different asbestos-containing products. Leslie explains her step-by-step approach to reconstructing a person’s exposure history chronologically, starting at birth and moving through childhood, military service, career, and household exposure. Along the way, we dig into the moments that surprise families most, including secondhand exposure from a parent’s job and “forgotten” asbestos contact from home projects or hobbies.

We also clear up a major misconception about asbestos trust funds. There is not one giant trust you can call for a check. There are dozens of separate bankruptcy trusts, and compensation depends on identifying the right manufacturers and documenting the exposure. Finally, we cover how records help shape the legal strategy and why the state where a claim is filed can matter more than people expect, plus a candid warning about high-volume “meso mills” that don’t treat cases as truly individual.

If you or someone you love is navigating mesothelioma, listen, share this with a caregiver, and subscribe for more practical guidance. After you listen, leave a review and tell us what question you want answered next.

MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. For a free consultation, visit Dandell.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You're listening to Meso, the Misothelioma podcast, where support, education, and outreach come together for families facing misothelioma.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

And welcome back to Miso, the Misocare podcast. And today my uh guest is Leslie Cooper. She is uh one of the investigators. So I'm gonna let Leslie introduce herself and and tell us a little bit about how what she does for Dan Zigger and Diano and how long she's been with us.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Hi Anna. Yes, I am Leslie Cooper and I have been an investigator with Dan Sgarandiano for 23 years. Wow. Yeah. So I've I've I've I've my I've been around a while.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

So that's not a bad thing. That's not a bad thing.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

You know, back in the old days when I started, I was the age of the clients' children, and now I'm the age of the clients. Oh my goodness. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 0:59

So okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. What I do is I go and um do the addition initial meeting with clients. So I am going to visit them in their homes. And um I actually have a 17-state territory. I have been all over the United States. I've done uh met with clients in all states except for Maine, Rhode Island, and Hawaii. So we do do uh, you know, uh consultations and we do do uh cases on a nationwide basis. Um and you know, that sounds maybe kind of spread out, but what a lot of people don't really realize is that mesothelioma is extremely rare. Yes. So you know, there's not that many cases out there. So, you know, I that's why I cover such a large territory. Um, when I meet with people, I'm explaining the process to them and um also I'm getting their claim up and running. That's what I'm doing. I see myself as an expediter, so um, it's important to get these cases moving as quickly as possible to get the results as quick quickly as possible, um, and do the best job that we can for our clients.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

Absolutely. Absolutely. How how many cases have you had since you've been with DD?

SPEAKER_02 2:20

I have seen roughly uh 1,000 cases since I've been with Danzo Grandiano. Yeah. So you put it put it that way, that's only like one a month, uh, you know, one a week, um, you know, during the course of those years, because that's you know, people don't realize how rare it is. Um, I think that people have, you know, seen commercials for decades, and um, it might seem like it's super common, but the amount of advertising speaks more to the value of the cases than the volume of the cases. Right, absolutely. And that's what we're trying to do is we're trying to get as much value out of every single case.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

Absolutely. And each case is is actually filed individually. It's not a huge class action case that sometimes we get the calls and they say, or I want to be a part of that class action suit, but that's not how these cases are filed. Am I correct?

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Yes. What I tell people is it's it's not a class action case, it's literally the opposite of a class acting case. In a class action case, you have one defendant and multiple plaintiffs. In these cases, our client is our one plaintiff, and there are multiple defendants.

Rebuilding A Life Timeline Of Exposure

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Right, right. So can you um what method do you use to map out the client's work history um and uh and how to identify asbestos exposure, not only um uh their work history, uh I guess what I'm asking is, you know, how do you uh when you meet with a client, how do you get all the information you need in order to file these cases? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

So I go chronologically. So I explain to people that we are looking for every manufacturer of asbestos products that they have been exposed to since they were born. Okay. That's why there are so many, you know, defendants involved in each individual's case, and they are all individual. So it's going to depend on who your manufacturers are, how many of them there are. Um, that's going to speak to the value of your case and how how how much compensation we can get for each individual client. So I go chronologically from the time they were born, um, because we're looking for things like maybe your father worked at the shipyards and was bringing asbestos home. Um maybe your you know mother worked at an industrial facility, so what you did in high school. So everybody has, well, most people have an idea. Well, I I got this here, okay. Right. You might have got that there, but you might not have got that there. We're not looking for the manufacturer who's responsible. We're looking for every manufacturer who's responsible. Okay. So there might be a little bit uh from when you were growing up, a little bit from when you were in the military, uh, and then your career, and then perhaps household exposure too.

unknown 5:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

So I go chronologically and I go over a person's entire life history, looking for every single possible source of asbestos exposure that I can find.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

And obviously, the reason we do that is the more uh that we can identify, the more compensation we can get the client. Yes. Because we're looking out for them. Yes, and there's a lot more possibilities than they think. Um, and and you're right, I've I've talked to individuals where they said, Oh, I I know exactly where I got it. And then you look at the age of the individual, and they're, you know, 52 years old, and we're like, okay, let's step back and look even a little further. And there's a purpose to what you do and why you do that. So um, so you know, uh let's let's kind of uh you you talked about you know the trust funds and and the manufacturers. Um what can you explain um or can you address the asbestos trust and how how that all works?

Secondhand Exposure And Forgotten Products

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Sure, because I think that people are on um they're a little bit surprised when they find out all you know that's involved in in this, and it's um, you know, it's it's actually very interesting. But um you'll hear, you know, people will hear or see commercials that are saying, you know, there's this big, huge asbestos trust. And that's not necessarily true. That figure that they're giving, like the$80 trillion, is actually the sum of all of the trusts combined. So there are dozens of manufacturers who have filed for bankruptcy and have to um put money into these, you know, have to set up a trust um to compensate, you know, people who are diagnosed with mesothelioma. So there's there's a number of them. Um so again, it's it's not like you can call them up and say, call this trust up and say, you know, I have mesothelioma, you know, please cut me a check.

SPEAKER_05 7:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

It's our job to identify who these manufacturers are. It's our job to identify who all the manufacturers are, whether they're bankrupt and have a trust or not. Okay. So there's no possible way that a person can do that. And when people tell me, oh, you you know, I don't know, and you're never gonna be able to figure it out. And I'm like, Do you want to make a bet? We're gonna figure it out, okay? Yeah, you have no idea how how uh you know the the reach of of our investigative tools are, um, we we will find out. So it's just important to go over the life history, turn over every stone, look for every possibility, um, eliminate situations as well. And people are, you know, very shocked with what we come up with.

Asbestos Trust Funds Explained Clearly

SPEAKER_03 8:18

Right. No. Um it's yeah, they um don't realize that there could be the secondhand exposure from a family member. Um, and they don't even realize how many products were made with asbestos. Um, your your mom could have a hobby and she was, you know, making pottery and she had the huge, is it a kiln that you use? Yeah. And so that had asbestos. And you don't think that your hobbies that you had or uh other areas, you know, because they didn't think about how many companies actually used asbestos products. So yeah, it's really important and you know, uh typically to I I try to let people know before they meet with you, you know, it's really important that you think about all the areas that are potential. And I know as you're going through, you know, your questions, you said that you start from when they were young. And uh the purpose of that is, you know, what sometimes once someone is talking about, you know, their life, they start to realize that, well, they're that, oh yeah, I I do remember, you know, something like that. I had, I remember talking to someone and they said when they were, when they were young, their dad removed all the uh insulation out of the attic and they threw it out in the front yard and the kids were playing in it. Little did they know it was asbestos insulation, and they said, Wow, I I totally forgot about that when I was a kid. And so this is what you do. You try to get them to try to remember uh different things. And as you're going, yeah, and as you're going chronologically, um, a lot of times they don't remember the actual dates, but when you point out, well, was that when you had your first child? And it's kind of helpful to get them to, oh yeah, that was in 1959 or whatever. I that's true. Um, so the things that you do or the questions you ask are for a purpose. Um, you know, we're constantly trying to help them. Um, you know, the you know, as as we've said, and you've said, everybody said, um, the more we know, the more compensation we can get for that particular client. And that is our job to do that. Yes. Um, so um what is what is the average time that you spend with a potential client? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

So the amount of time that I am going to spend with a client is largely going to be based on how they feel. Okay. Um, some people are going through treatment, some people have just recently been diagnosed and are just getting over, you know, the biopsy and the pleuridesis and, you know, other situations like that. And other people still feel 100%. So I can complete um my portion of the investigation, the initial investigation, in about two hours. I'll be honest with you. Sometimes I'll sit and talk with somebody for five hours. Sometimes we'll go out to dinner. Okay. It depends on how the client feels. It really does.

SPEAKER_05 11:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

But one thing, you know, a lot of times people are like, you know, when I'm giving them the third degree, when I'm going over their life history with them, you know, they'll say, Well, I don't remember. I don't remember. But when I come and I ask questions, it jogs their memories. Exactly. So I tell them, you know what, you can't tell me right now. I'll bet you tonight you're going to be washing the dishes and you're going to say, Oh, now I remember.

unknown 11:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

You know, so it just gets gets those juices flowing and, you know, gets their their memories back together a little bit better. Things they haven't thought of in 30, 40 years.

SPEAKER_05 12:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Yeah. Or I'll ask them, you know, are there any, do they recall any of their coworkers? And no, no, no. And then, you know, three days later they'll have a list of five former coworkers for me. Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

So that's kind of typical for any of us, right? We can't remember what we did five minutes ago, and then an hour later we're like, oh yeah, that's what I was looking for.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

So um and then, of course, other people have memories that are just as sharp as could be.

SPEAKER_03 12:30

Yeah. I don't have one of those. So I wish I did, but I don't.

Interview Length Records And Best Venue

SPEAKER_02 12:35

But that's what we do is initially we're going by what this person can tell me. Okay. And we're going to get documents, we're going to get social security records, we're going to get military records, we're going to get other records in the future. But for us to start out, we need as much information as possible. That that gives um Michelle, our trial attorney, that gives her the direction that the case is going to go. And the other, one of the most important things is the venue. So that's the um state that the case is going to be filed in.

SPEAKER_03 13:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Because there are, you know, there are many, many states, the majority of them in this country, that you would not get a dime for a mesothelioma case in. Yes. That's why I'm going all over the place. When I show up at somebody's house in Montana, they're like, You flew here from California? And I'm like, Yes, I did. We are not kidding, okay? Yes, that's true. And they know that we're not kidding, but you wouldn't there, you don't file a mesothelioma claim in Montana. So that's just an example of one state. There are states that are just highly favorable, and we're looking for this person to have a connection, having lived or worked in the best state, you know, for the case.

SPEAKER_03 13:52

Yeah, because we're always looking at um, where can I file it the quickest? Where can I get the most for this client? So yeah. So there, you know, all the information that we're asking is has a purpose. Yes. So can you give me, or is there one interview that stands out um that you did which either funny or or uh very emotional or whatever it may be without giving us any names or um or you know, just that you would feel comfortable sharing?

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yes, I think that um, and uh, you know, when you were mentioned earlier, it made me think of this man, and he was just delightful. Um, but um, he was a taxidermist and he worked with Plaster of Paris in his taxidermy, and that plaster of Paris had been asbestos containing, and he had, you know, a great deal of other exposure, of course, but he was uh like 78 years old, and the phone rings, and it was his mother.

SPEAKER_03 15:00

78 years old and his mother's calling you.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Yes, his mother was calling. I thought that was the cutest thing in the world. I just had to laugh so hard, but he was just delightful. I'm like, whoa. Some people say, you know, well, oh, you know, we have longevity in my family.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Well, that man definitely had longevity in his family, but yeah, it was just really cute. His mother was calling to check up on him.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

Oh my goodness. Yeah, that's so cute. I love that. I love that. Leslie, is there anything else that you'd like to share before we end this uh podcast today?

A Memorable Client Story And Firm Warning

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Um, well, you know, I just want to share. There is one thing that I would like to share. And, you know, that's I've been here for 23 years. Obviously, I really believe in our in our firm. Um, not just that I really believe in our firm, I literally will not let anybody not go with our firm because there's a situation, what I call measo mills. So these are law firms that will take any case, okay? And um basically all cases are handled the same way by them. We don't do that. Every single case that we handle is handled on an individual basis by the merits of that individual case. We're gonna do our darndest on every case, but our high value cases, you know, you wouldn't want a high volue case to end up with one of these miso mill type law firms.

SPEAKER_05 16:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

You know, there's not only that, but we roll out the red carpet for our clients. We treat our clients just, you know, fantastic. Yeah. You you you're gonna have our our cell phone numbers.

unknown 16:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Okay. You can call me 247. Okay. So we just are so client-centric. We take such great care of of the clients, and every single um, you know, case is handled on an individual basis.

SPEAKER_03 16:57

And and they do have our cell members, believe me. They've called me. Um, but yes, you know, um, you know, one of the I think it I think it says something about uh Dan Zigger and Diano that the majority of us have been here a very, very long time. Uh in in uh for mesothelioma. Um so you know, obviously, you know, we believe and trust in in Dan Zigger and Diano, and that's why we're still here. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

The process is just amazing. The way we handle our clients is amazing.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

Leslie, I thank you so much for taking the time out to talk with me and sharing what you do for Dan Zigger and Diano. And um, you know, we'll have to do this again. Thank you so much, Leslie. Okay, you too.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Thank you for listening to Misto, the Mito Thelioma podcast. For more information, resources, and support, visit our sponsors, Danziger and Dayano, at dandel.com.