In what is being called a landmark ruling for victims of secondary asbestos exposure, the Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that employers can be held legally responsible for mesothelioma deaths among family members who were exposed to asbestos through workers’ contaminated clothing.
Mesothelioma Victim’s Son Wins Key Legal Victory
The ruling was spurred by a mesothelioma lawsuit filed by Wesley Quisenberry against Huntington Ingalls Inc. after his mother, Wanda Quisenberry, died from the rare, asbestos-related cancer. Mr. Quisenberry blames his mother’s illness on asbestos fibers that her father brought home on his work clothes from Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock, now known as Huntington Ingalls Inc. The question decided by the state supreme court centered on whether the shipyard owed a legal duty to family members of its workers.
Senior Justice LeRoy Millette Jr. wrote for the majority that the mesothelioma victim was within reach of Huntington’s conduct when her father returned home from the shipyard with asbestos fibers on his clothing. The notable ruling establishes that Virginia law recognizes employer responsibility in situations where “time and space line up to put someone in danger as a result of another’s acts.” In its decision, the court compared the ruling on the shipyard’s responsibility to previous rulings, including a case where a farmer’s cows had wandered onto a roadway or a company had dumped chemicals into public waters.
Mesothelioma Exposure Began in 1942 Through Contaminated Work Clothes
According to the family, the asbestos exposure leading to Wanda Quisenberry’s fatal mesothelioma began in 1942 when her father started working at the shipyard. Her contact intensified in 1954 when she began helping wash his asbestos-contaminated work clothes. The pleural mesothelioma diagnosis came in December 2013—more than 70 years after initial exposure—illustrating the disease’s familiar decades-long latency period. She died three years later. Wesley Quisenberry filed his mesothelioma lawsuit in 2016, claiming Huntington knew about the dangers its workers’ families faced from asbestos particles but failed to prevent the exposure. Huntington responded with a motion to dismiss the mesothelioma negligence and gross negligence claims, arguing it owed no legal duty to Wanda Quisenberry because she was neither an employee nor present on company premises.
Mesothelioma Ruling Establishes Secondary Exposure Liability
The legal question, which had never been addressed in the state before, was sent to the state Supreme Court in November 2017. The court rejected Huntington’s argument that location and timing mattered, stating “that harm in the present case occurred at a location removed from the employer’s business and after hours is a distinction without a difference.” The ruling concluded that “the artificial hazard created by the shipyard—asbestos dust—was allegedly released through the shipyard’s course of conduct and moved to place Wanda in danger.” The case can now be heard by a jury.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net are here to help. Contact us today at 1-800-692-8608 to learn more.
