Del. Court Again Rejects Attempts to Hold Employer Liable in Secondhand Exposure Case

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Delaware's highest court has reinforced its two-year old ruling that an asbestos plaintiff in a secondhand, take-home exposure case cannot assert claims against her husband's former employer without establishing a special relationship between the parties. Price, et al. v. E.I.DuPont de Nemours & Co., No. 09C-06-084 (Del. Sup. Ct.).

In a 3-2 decision issued July 11 by the Delaware Supreme Court, Chief Justice Myron T. Steele said that the plaintiffs' efforts to repaint the allegations in their complaint as misfeasance failed because the amendment was "predicated on exactly the same underlying facts earlier claimed to be nonfeasance."