Take home, or secondary exposure, asbestos cases have increasingly become the norm in toxic tort asbestos litigation in the last 10 years. Secondary exposure occurs when a worker is exposed to asbestos at a job site and brings the asbestos-containing clothes home to be laundered by a family member. As a result, the family member […]
asbestos litigation defense
Restriction on Statute of Repose Defense Results in an Increase In Asbestos Claims Being Filed in Indiana
A frequently relied upon defense in insurance defense cases such as product liability and toxic tort cases in Indiana has been the statute of repose. Plaintiffs had two years from the date they knew or should have known they suffered harm to file a lawsuit based upon the state’s statute of limitations. The statute of […]
U.S. District Court Dismisses Take-Home Asbestos Claim
In Neumann v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC, et al. (Case No. 1:15-cv-10507), the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted Defendant’s motion to dismiss in this “take-home” asbestos exposure case. The Court determined that Plaintiff’s negligence claim failed because Defendant did not owe Plaintiff a duty of care. The Court’s decision […]
Illinois Supreme Court Reverses Folta Decision – Workers’ Compensation Claim is Exclusive Remedy for Employee’s Asbestos Injury
On November 4, 2015, the Illinois Supreme Court filed its opinion in Folta v. Ferro Engineering, 2015 IL 118070. In a 4-2 decision, the Court held that an employee’s common law tort action against his employer is barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act and Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act (“the Act” […]
Asbestos Legislative Alert- Illinois
This follows our bulletin of 12/5/14 advising that the Illinois General Assembly had passed legislation (Senate Bill 2221) during a lame duck session rendering the ten-year Illinois Construction Statute of Repose inapplicable to asbestos personal injury suits. As anticipated, SB 2221 was signed into law (PA 098-1131) by outgoing governor Pat Quinn last Friday, December […]
Asbestos Litigation Update
The past month has yielded three decisions that are certain to impact future asbestos personal injury litigation in Illinois. Smith v. Crane Co. et al., in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Folta v. Ferro Engineering, in the Illinois First District Court of Appeals, and Bostic v. Georgia-Pacific, in the […]