Pesticide Brain Cancer Claim Against Employer Barred by Comp Act, N.J. Court Rules

TRENTON, N.J. — The widow of a former exterminator who developed brain cancer allegedly as a result of workplace pesticide exposure cannot sue his employer under the intentional wrong exception of the New Jersey’s Workers’ Comp Act, a state appellate court has held.

In affirming a trial court ruling Oct. 6, New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Division ruled that the Act’s exclusivity bar applied to the widow’s claim that her late husband was “deliberately deceived” into believing that protection equipment his employer provided would protect him from pesticides. The court held that the alleged deception was insufficient to meet …