New ruling related to second-hand asbestos exposure and the development of mesothelioma cancer

In a case brought before the Fifth District Appellate Court, justices ruled in favor of Cynthia Simpkins–of who brought the case regarding her mother’s death, due to secondhand asbestos exposure, against CSX.

The ruling now holds that any employer who allows its workers to return home with asbestos-ridden clothing is responsible for any disease that worker, or his/her immediate family members, contract.

The case was brought before the Fifth District Appellate Court after Madison County, Illinois’s Circuit Court Judge, Daniel J. Stack, dismissed three counts of the woman’s asbestos complaint.

Annette Simpkins was exposed to asbestos fibers while washing her husband’s clothes from the years 1958, until 1964. Once mesothelioma doctors diagnosed Annette with the disease, she filed a complaint.

Mesothelioma treatment, however, failed to prolong Annette’s life expectancy, as she passed away in April 2007. At that time, her daughter, Cynthia Simpkins, took over as plaintiff in the case.

Mesothelioma is one of the most rare and aggressive forms of cancer to arise from asbestos exposure. The disease typically affects the lung, heart and abdominal cavities.

The Appellate court ruled that CSX had a duty of care to protect Annette Simpkins, and had failed to do so.

Justice Melissa A. Chapman wrote: "To find that an employer whose workers are exposed to asbestos owes no duty to protect others from exposure — assuming the exposure is both foreseeable and preventable without undue burden — merely because the others do not have any particular special relationship with the employer (such as employee or business invitee) would defy logic and lead to grossly unfair results.”