Asbestosis Its Impact Upon Products Liability and Workmen's Compensation

Our plain-English summary of Asbestosis Its Impact Upon Products Liability and Workmen's Compensation, by J.T. Elser (1975).

The study

• Author: J.T. Elser
• Published: The Insurance Law Journal No.631, August 1975 PP.459-467
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This was a legal article for insurers, not a medical or scientific study. The author analysed the Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. case and its possible meaning for products liability and workmen's compensation in Texas, California and New York. The plaintiff worked as an insulation worker from 1936 until 1969, when a lung biopsy showed asbestosis. The plaintiff later had the right lung removed and died of mesothelioma, which the article calls a lung cancer caused by asbestosis. The suit named 11 asbestos manufacturers, and the jury found for the plaintiff on strict liability. The appeals court held that lacking adequate warnings made asbestos unreasonably dangerous. It rejected the defences of contributory negligence and assumption of risk, and held the manufacturers jointly and severally liable. The author concluded that all three states treat asbestosis as compensable, although the treatment varies in specific regulations. Texas, for example, requires incapacity or death within three years of the last injurious exposure. The author predicted that Borel would be followed in all three states, noting that no such case had yet been brought in New York or California.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Legal analysis of court decisions and state statutes (not a medical study)
• Who was studied: One plaintiff in the Borel case, an insulation worker from 1936 to 1969, who sued 11 asbestos manufacturers in Texas; plus the workmen's compensation and products liability law of Texas, California and New York
• Exposure: Daily exposure to asbestos dust during insulation work; no fiber type is named
• Main results:
  • In the Borel case, the plaintiff had the right lung removed after asbestosis was found, and later died of mesothelioma, which the article describes as a lung cancer caused by asbestosis
  • The jury rejected the plaintiff's claims on other grounds but found for the plaintiff on strict liability. The damages figure is garbled in the scan (printed as $79,436.2:4)
  • The court treated asbestos as an 'unavoidably unsafe' product, for which lack of adequate warnings creates liability
  • The court held that the defences of contributory negligence and assumption of risk did not apply in this case
  • The defendants were held jointly and severally liable because the disease is cumulative
  • Under Texas law, asbestosis is a compensable occupational disease if incapacity or death results within three years of the last injurious exposure
  • The author found asbestosis compensable under workmen's compensation in all three states surveyed
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that all three states treat asbestosis as compensable, although the treatment varies in terms of specific regulations. The author also concluded that there can be little doubt the Borel decision would be followed in the state courts of Texas, California and New York, with variation mainly in defences under New York law.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author noted that no case with facts like Borel had yet been brought under this theory in New York or California, so the analysis for those states is a prediction
  • The author noted older New York cases contrary to strict products liability, whose effect was unclear

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Fibreboard Corporation, Plaintiff, Insulator, Biopsy, Mesothelioma, Lung Cancer, Strict Liability, Appeal.

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