10/31/2005
CONTACT: Melissa Sharp, (202) 554-9000
High Court Rules Owners Not Liable for Secondary Asbestos Exposure
Washington, D.C. — Late last week, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, announced a decision that will protect millions of New York small-business owners against liability suits from third-party claimants exposed to asbestos. The court’s decision correctly ruled that an employer or landowner’s duty to provide a safe workplace is limited to employees and does not extend to third parties such as employees’ spouses.
The National Federation of Independent Business’ Legal Foundation filed a brief in this case, urging the court to consider repercussions that would result from opening the floodgates for asbestos claims to non-employees and other third-party claimants. The Foundation is thrilled that the court’s ruling in this case reflects key arguments in NFIB’s brief.
“The decision by New York’s highest court to limit owners’ liability to employees is an important step towards protecting business owners from unwarranted asbestos claims from third parties that employers have no control over,” said Karen Harned, executive director of NFIB’s Legal Foundation.
The case, Holdampf, et al. v. A.C. & S., Inc., et al., & The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, involved injuries allegedly sustained by the plaintiff as a result of laundering her husband’s asbestos-contaminated clothes during the 30-year period he worked for New York’s Port Authority. The court held that the Port Authority did not have a duty to the employee’s spouse because she did not have a direct relationship with the employer. Adopting arguments from NFIB’s brief, the court ruled that expanding an employer’s duty to provide a safe workplace beyond their employees to third-party claimants would be unworkable in practice and unsound as a matter of policy.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has already noted that there is an ‘asbestos-litigation crisis’ in this country. Today, there are more than 300,000 pending lawsuits over the issues, and already, more than 70 employers have been bankrupted. The court’s decision to limit an employer’s duty to employees will allow New York small-business owners the freedom to concentrate on things they can control such as their workplace environment, and eliminates the fear of being held liable for unwarranted asbestos claims that they have no control over,” said Harned.
The NFIB Legal Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization created to protect the rights of America's small-business owners by providing advisory material on legal issues and by ensuring that the voice of small business is heard in the nation's courts. The National Federation of Independent Business represents the consensus views of its 600,000 members in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals.
