Cases where someone gets mesothelioma from second hand exposure are more common than you might think. I remember cases involving people exposed to the drywall paste, insulation that was put into a child home and spouses exposed through laundry.
A Tennessee father’s mesothelioma lawsuit is the latest in a series of cases testing the waters of secondhand asbestos exposure as a viable legal concept. Amanda Satterfield filed a lawsuit against ALCOA, Inc., and Breeding Insulation Co. Inc., back in 2003. In the suit, she claimed that she had developed the deadly cancer, mesothelioma as a result of childhood exposure to asbestos that was brought home on the person and clothing of her father, Doug Satterfield. The elder Satterfield hauled asbestos for ALCOA for many years.
Amanda Satterfield died of mesothelioma on January 1, 2005. Her father was named executor of the estate and the lawsuit continued. She spent the last two years of her life, and her father the next two years of his, battling the legal system to win justice for his daughter. The lawsuit has dragged on for more than four years in the Tennessee legal system with dismissals, appeals and reversals.
The case was dismissed in the lower court and appealed. Now the Tennessee Supreme Court gets to decide whether the case can go forward.
Source: Asbestos.com
