Ill. Supreme Court Reverses Order Allowing Asbestos Plaintiff to Pursue Civil Action Against Employer

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. –– An Illinois court has reversed an order allowing an asbestos plaintiff to pursue a civil action against his former employer, saying that while “through no fault of the employee’s own,” the ability to file a claim with the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act extinguished before it accrued.

In the Nov. 4 opinion, the Illinois Supreme Court held 4-2 that to allow the underlying asbestos claim to proceed would mean that the limitations periods outlined in the Acts would “cease to serve its intended function.”

“Thus, the fact that through no fault of the employee’s own, the right to …