Employers May be Held Liable for Take-Home Asbestos Exposure, Calif. High Court Rules

SAN FRANCISCO — Companies can be held liable for injuries caused by take-home exposure to asbestos, the California Supreme Court has ruled, explaining it is reasonably foreseeable that employees who work with, or around, asbestos may carry asbestos fibers home with them and expose members of their household.

In a Dec. 1 opinion, the high court clarified, however, that an employers’ duty of care regarding take-home asbestos exposure extends only to members of a workers’ household, thereby “limiting potential plaintiffs to an identifiable category of persons who, as a class, are most likely to have suffered a legitimate, compensable …