A recent decision by the California Supreme Court could lead to financial recovery for persons sickened by second hand asbestos exposure.

In a unanimous decision issued on Dec. 1, 2016, the court said that employers of workers exposed to asbestos have a duty of care that extends to the persons who live in the same household as the exposed workers.

These employers are therefore expected to take certain steps to ensure that household members are not exposed to asbestos dust brought home by these workers on their clothes or equipment.

Employers who fail to take such steps can face civil liability if the workers’ household members later develop mesothelioma or other disease.

The decision opens up an avenue for members of an asbestos-exposed worker’s household to sue for their own illness caused by second hand asbestos exposure. It does not apply to non-household members, however.

Justice Goodwin Liu noted that non-household members with other relationships to exposed workers, such as regular carpool companions, could likely have been subject to second hand asbestos exposure.

However, the court limited the decision to household members in the interest of defining “an identifiable category of people … most likely to have suffered a legitimate, compensable harm.”

Decision Prompted by Two Second Hand Asbestos Exposure Cases

The court’s decision addressed two separate cases in which the plaintiffs alleged their illness was traceable to second hand asbestos exposure.

One of the two cases was brought on behalf of plaintiff Johnny K., who died of peritoneal mesothelioma in 2014. Before his death, Johnny alleged he had been exposed to asbestos brought home on his uncle’s work clothes.

Johnny’s uncle worked for defendant Pneumo Abex LLC, the owner of a brake manufacturing plant in Virginia. Johnny testified that from 1973 to 1979, he spent at least three nights a week at his uncle’s house. His uncle said he used to roughhouse with Johnny or sleep nearby while still in his work clothes.

The other case was brought on behalf of late plaintiff Lynne H. Lynne was diagnosed with mesothelioma in March 2008 and died just over a year later.

Lynne’s survivors brought an asbestos mesothelioma lawsuit alleging she was exposed to asbestos from her husband’s work clothes. Her husband was allegedly exposed to asbestos from pipe insulation and other materials while he worked for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from 1972 to 1974.

Claimants in cases like these seek to impose liability on the employers of the workers exposed to asbestos.

They argue that these companies failed to take appropriate steps, such as providing showers and changing rooms, to ensure the household members of asbestos-exposed workers didn’t get exposed to asbestos themselves.

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the pleura, the two-layered membrane that surrounds the lungs. There is no cure for mesothelioma, and it is always fatal.

Asbestos exposure is the only recognized cause of mesothelioma in the U.S. Since the disease can take decades to develop, mesothelioma that is diagnosed today may be linked to exposure that happened many years ago.