Court Links Wife's Claim to Lung Cancer Case, Rejects Limitations Argument

FORT MYERS, Fla. - The wife of a Florida man who claimed he developed lung cancer as a result of his exposure to dust from manufacturing and buffing jewelry can assert loss of consortium claims filed more than four years after her husband learned that his injury was silica-related, a federal judge has ruled. Hughes v. American Tripoli Inc., et al., No. 04-485 (M.D. Fla.).

Judge John E. Steele of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida said in a July 17 opinion and order that Barbara Hughes's loss of consortium claim, added recently in a fourth …