Many veterans with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease ask the same question about receiving benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
“If I file a VA Disability Compensation claim, will that hurt my legal case?”
Or they ask the reverse: “If I pursue legal compensation, will it affect my VA benefits?”
The short answer is this: VA Disability Compensation and asbestos-related legal compensation do not cancel each other out.
You can receive both.
However – and this is important – how and when you pursue each one matters, and what you say to the VA can have consequences outside of the VA system.
This article explains both sides clearly.
Part One: Filing a Legal Claim Will NOT Hurt Your VA Disability Claim
Let’s start by addressing the biggest fear – whether receiving compensation from a legal claim affects benefits from VA claims.
If you pursue legal compensation for asbestos exposure – whether through a lawsuit or other legal avenues – it does not reduce, offset, or disqualify you from VA Disability Compensation.
This is because VA Disability Compensation benefits are not means-tested. This means neither your income nor your net worth is considered when determining if you qualify for compensation or what disability rating to which you are entitled.
VA Disability Compensation for asbestos diseases is based on your medical condition, its connection to asbestos, and your asbestos exposure history. Legal compensation for mesothelioma exists in a completely separate system with different standards and purposes.
Here is the VA’s perspective: “If you were exposed in service and that exposure is the primary cause of your disease, you qualify regardless of legal action you have taken in the past or any legal action you pursue in the future.”
Therefore, veterans with mesothelioma should not avoid legal options out of fear that their VA benefits may be affected.
Part Two: How a VA Claim Can Affect a Legal Claim
Now we need to switch perspectives, because this is where risk exists. While legal claims do not hurt VA claims, VA claims for mesothelioma can hurt legal claims for mesothelioma if they are handled carelessly.
This is not obvious to most veterans.
What You Tell the VA Matters to Your Lawyer
When you file a VA Disability Compensation claim for an asbestos disease, the VA will ask about your entire asbestos exposure history, including:
- Military exposure
- Civilian exposure before service
- Civilian exposure after service
What you submit to the VA becomes part of an official record. In some circumstances, what you tell the VA about your exposure history may be made available to defense attorneys in your legal claims (i.e. the asbestos company’s attorneys).
If the story you tell the VA about your asbestos exposures is different from the exposure story your attorney presents in a legal claim, that inconsistency can:
- Reduce or completely eliminate some legal recoveries
- Delay claims
- Undermine your credibility
In plain terms, you cannot tell the VA one story and the legal system a different one.
A Simple Example
If a veteran tells the VA that all their asbestos exposure happened in the military, but later pursues legal claims based heavily on civilian asbestos exposure, those two positions conflict. That conflict can be used against the veteran in the legal system. This doesn’t mean you should hide civilian exposure from the VA.
It means you must describe your exposure history carefully, accurately, and consistently, with an understanding of how both systems work.
Filing Sequence Matters (and We Plan for It)
Every veteran’s situation is different. Here are the most common scenarios I run into as a VA-accredited claims agent who has been helping veterans with mesothelioma for 18 years.
Scenario 1: You Already Have a Mesothelioma Attorney
If you already hired a lawyer and now want to file a VA disability claim:
- Your attorney reviews the VA exposure summary.
- We get your attorney’s approval of your exposure summary, or coordinate with him/her to make sure what is submitted to the VA is accurate, supports service-connected asbestos exposure, but does not create problems for your legal case.
This coordination is critical – and rarely done by veteran service officers (VSO) or VA claims agents with little to no experience in filing mesothelioma claims.
Scenario 2: You File With the VA but Already Plan to Pursue Legal Options
This is very common. In this case:
- You must avoid statements that unnecessarily limit or contradict future legal claims.
In situations like this, I recommend you hire a mesothelioma lawyer while we are working on preparing your VA claim. We can get your attorney to review and approve your asbestos exposure summary before we submit it to the VA.
That approach provides your attorney with an opportunity to ensure you aren’t saying anything to the VA that might become problematic in your legal claims.
Scenario 3: You File a VA Claim Without a Lawyer
Some veterans with mesothelioma want to file their claims in sequence, not in parallel, as they feel they don’t have the capacity to deal with both at the same time. I usually try to talk veterans out of this scenario, but for those who are adamant about filing the VA claim first, or have no intention of filing legal claims at all, I do the following:
- I rely on my experience in coordinating with many mesothelioma attorneys over the years.
- I take care to avoid language that I know any mesothelioma attorney would take issue with.
However, it’s important to be clear: I am not a lawyer. While I can prevent obvious problems, having an attorney review the asbestos exposure summary first is always safer if legal compensation may be pursued later.
Why This Coordination Matters (and Why Most VSOs Don’t Do It)
- Focus only on the VA claim with no thought about its potential impact on legal claims
- Do not understand how asbestos litigation works
- Do not coordinate with attorneys and don’t even recommend that the veteran show their VA claim to their attorney if they already have one.
As a VA-accredited claims agent who regularly coordinates with mesothelioma attorneys, I approach VA claims with both systems in mind. My goals are simple:
- Get your VA claim approved
- Maximize your legal compensation
- Avoid preventable financial losses
Veterans can lose tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal compensation simply because of poorly worded VA exposure statements. And that loss is almost always irreversible – and avoidable from the start.
The Bottom Line
- You can receive VA Disability Compensation and legal asbestos compensation at the same time.
- Legal claims do not hurt VA claims.
- VA claims can hurt legal claims if handled incorrectly.
- Filing order matters.
- Coordination matters.
- Consistency matters.
If you pursue legal options now or in the future, your VA claim should be prepared with that reality in mind from day one. That foresight protects both your benefits and your financial recovery.
For questions about this, or any other asbestos-related VA benefit, feel free to contact me at (844) 838-6376 or cjewett@mesotheliomaguide.com.
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