A New Jersey panel of Superior Court judges has ruled that a lawsuit concerning overseas exposure to U.S. asbestos products is valid. The action was filed by Spanish workers who were exposed to asbestos while working on U.S. Navy ships in Spanish ports.
The panel’s action overturned a previous ruling and will allow the suit to proceed. According to trade publication Insurance Journal the action is a products liability case filed in New Jersey against, Ohio-based Owens-Illinois, which manufactured the insulation in factories located in Sayreville and Berlin, New Jersey.
The plaintiffs are sixteen Spanish shipyard workers who claim that they contracted asbestosis while working on Navy vessels in Cadiz and Rota Spain, where they had put in for repair. The workers were employed on these jobs between 1950 and 1998. Attorneys for Owens-Illinois argued that the case should be heard in Spain.
However the judge’s panel ruled that a U.S. court was appropriate because American law holds that Navy ships are U.S. territory no matter where they are docked. Because of that long-held position, this case belongs in a United States court. The advantages are clear, since the issue of asbestos toxicity and the responsibility of corporate entities that manufactured and used asbestos has been well established in the U.S.
It’s likely that if this ruling holds up, the Spanish workers will have a good case. Over thirty percent of U.S. mesothelioma and asbestosis sufferers are veterans – most of them Navy veterans who worked on a ship or in a shipyard with Navy vessels.
Tags: asbestos
