Despite objections by mesothelioma victim Gael Garon, a federal court has granted Illinois Central Railroad’s motion compelling her to submit blood for whole genome sequencing. The order allows the railroad to pursue a controversial defense theory that genetic mutations—rather than secondary asbestos exposure from her father’s contaminated work clothes—caused her fatal cancer.
Mesothelioma Victim’s Family History Spans Decades of Asbestos Disease
In May 2024, Gael Garon filed a mesothelioma lawsuit alleging secondary asbestos exposure through her father, Robert Garon, who worked for Illinois Central Railroad from 1949 through the late 1990s. The asbestos exposure tragedy extends across three generations of her family: Robert Garon developed cancer from occupational asbestos exposure at the railroad, Garon’s sister Suzanne filed a mesothelioma lawsuit in 2017 alleging secondary exposure from their father’s work clothes, and now Gael Garon faces the same fatal disease.
Garon’s mesothelioma exposure began in childhood when her father encountered asbestos-containing brakes and pipe insulation at the rail yard, then returned home wearing asbestos-covered work clothes and boots. The victim began handling her father’s asbestos-contaminated clothing at age 12, when she began helping with the family’s laundry. Her lawsuit initially named asbestos product manufacturers Eagle, Inc., and contractor Taylor-Seidenbach, with Illinois Central Railroad added in September 2024 as a premises liability and employer defendant.
Mesothelioma Genetic Testing Order Raises Unprecedented Privacy Concerns
In response to the mesothelioma claim, Illinois Central filed a motion to compel Garon to provide blood for whole genome sequencing —a physically invasive procedure with significant privacy implications. Despite years of scientific consensus that mesothelioma is definitively caused by asbestos, the testing request is an attempt to argue that inherited genetic mutations, rather than asbestos exposure, caused Garon’s cancer.
Despite Garon’s attorneys’ vigorous opposition and Louisiana’s “eggshell plaintiff” doctrine, which holds tortfeasors liable for all natural consequences of negligent acts regardless of victims’ pre-existing conditions or susceptibilities, the court granted the motion for genetic testing for mesothelioma. This represents a troubling new trend in defense tactics: Historically, asbestos defendants have concealed asbestos dangers and blamed smoking for workers’ lung cancers, but modern defendants are attempting to exploit genetic science to shift blame from occupational exposure to victims’ DNA.
Garon’s attorneys maintain their client can establish asbestos exposure as the cause of her mesothelioma, and that her genetic makeup “merely relates to her individual susceptibility for injury and does not absolve nor mitigate the defendant’s conduct.” The blood draw is ordered to take place before a date in March.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net are here to help. Contact us today at 1-800-692-8608 to learn more.
