The daughter of a worker who carried home from work asbestos fibers on his clothing developed mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer whose only known cause is exposure to asbestos. She (and upon her death her estate) sued Alcoa, Inc., her father's employer, claiming that it had a duty to prevent the exposure to asbestos of family members of its workers. After her suit was thrown out by a trial court, the Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated it and ruled it should proceed to trial. Recognizing the great dangers posed by asbestos exposure, which have been well-known for decades now and the relative ease and inexpense of preventing that exposure to workers' families, the court stated, "In light of the magnitude of the potential harm from exposure to asbestos and the means available to prevent or reduce this harm, we see no reason to prevent carpool members, baby sitters, or the domestic help from pursuing negligence claims against an employer should they develop mesothelioma after being repeatedly and regularly in close contact with an employee's asbestos-contaminated work clothes over an extended period of time." A copy of the opinion, Satterfield v. Breeding Insulation Company, can be read by clicking here.
Exposure to asbestos generally produces two types of illnesses: asbestosis and mesothelioma. Exposure to asbestos is the only know cause of mesothelioma, which is a cancer that initially forms in the exterior lining of the lung. Asbestosis is a condition resulting from the accretion of asbestos fibers in the lung interior that eventually and over time causes greatly decreased respiratory capacity and can develop into cancer itself.
