The survivors of a Swiss mesothelioma victim will take their father’s legal claim to the country’s high appeals court after the country failed to provide them with a fair hearing in February 2024. Marcel Jann’s son and widow requested a revision of the federal court after the European Court of Human Rights had condemned Switzerland’s earlier decision in the case.
Statute of Limitations at Issue in Swiss Mesothelioma Case
Mr. Jann died of malignant pleural mesothelioma in 2006 after having spent years living in the immediate vicinity of an asbestos-processing plant owned by the company Eternit. Before he died, he filed a criminal claim against the company, accusing them of causing him grievous bodily harm, and in 2009 his son and widow filed a claim for damages against the company and the sons of the company’s former owner, Max Schmidheiny.
At the time, the country’s Federal Court rejected the request for compensation because the claim had not yet been heard in local courts, and instead reviewed the case to see whether the 10-year absolute statute of limitations had been exceeded at the time of the family’s filing. Because the last damaging event was identified as 1972, the court ruled that the limitation period had expired in 1982, 22 years before Mr. Jann’s disease was diagnosed. In the United States, most states have revised the statute of limitations to reflect the time of diagnosis, largely because of the long latency period characteristic of the rare asbestos-related disease.
Glarus High Court Will Decide Limitation Period for Mesothelioma Case
The Glarus court that will decide the outcome of the claim is a Swiss court that handles appeals in cases involving asbestos. The issue of relative limitation period is traditionally decided subjectively in the country, and in this case, will determine when the illness was diagnosed and how much time went by before the claims were filed.
In the United States, the statute of limitations generally begins when mesothelioma is diagnosed rather than at the time of last exposure, but every case is different. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma and you need help, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net at 1-800-692-8608.
