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⭐LIABILITY FOR ASBESTOS-RELATED ILLNESS: REDEFINING THE RULES ON TOXIC TORTS
LIABILITY FOR ASBESTOS-RELATED ILLNESS: REDEFINING THE RULES ON TOXIC TORTS
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1 196 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [4:1 LIABILITY FOR ASBESTOS-RELATED ILLNESS: REDEFINING THE RULES ON TOXIC TORTS OWEN MCINTYRE* I. INTRODUCTION In Ireland, the Central Statistics Office reports that some 77,000 people suffer from work related illness in the course of a year, of which some 4,400 suffer respiratory problems. 1 Though further details are not provided, it is safe to assume that a significant number of such work-related respiratory illnesses arise from exposure to asbestos and it is widely expected that the number of claims for asbestos-related illness in Ireland will increase sharply in the coming years. 2 It is estimated that approximately 3,000 people die in Britain annually from asbestos-related diseases and the U.K. Health and Safety Executive predict as many as 10,000 deaths annually by Currently, between one and two thousand of these die from mesothelioma, increasing from 154 in 1968 to 1009 in Indeed, some commentators refer to a mesothelioma epidemic, which is predicted to kill some 250,000 men in Western Europe over the next years. 4 Indeed, it has been estimated that the total cost of asbestos claims worldwide will eventually reach around US$200 billion. 5 In recent years, litigation over illness resulting from exposure to asbestos has led to the progressive development and clarification of the application of common law principles to claims relating to environmental injury. The joint burdens of establishing the necessary causal link between an activity and an injury and of establishing that the injury sustained ought to have been reasonably foreseeable have * B.A., LL.B. (N.U.I.), College Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University College Cork. 1 See Buckley, A.J., Causation and Compensation in Asbestos Related Disease Claims (2002) Commercial Law Practitioner, See for example, The Irish Times, 23 June See McIntyre, O., Liability for Asbestos-Related Illness (1996) 4 Irish Planning and Environmental Law Journal, 83 at Peto, J., Decarli, A., La Vecchia, C., Levi, F. and Negri, E., The European Mesothelioma Epidemic (1999) 79 British Journal of Cancer, See The Economist, 25 May 2002, p. 81.2 2004] Liability for Asbestos-related Illness : Redefining the Rules on Toxic Torts 197 traditionally proven very onerous for plaintiffs claiming for so-called toxic torts. Also, the issue of liability for psychiatric illness caused by anxiety over past exposure to asbestos raises a number of difficult issues. However, the UK and Irish courts have, of late, taken a more innovative and progressive approach to establishing both vital requirements for a finding of liability and to defining the limits of liability in relation to psychiatric illness. In particular, the House of Lords has recently ruled that the but for test for causation 6 need not apply in mesothelioma claims entered by employees who suffered periods of exposure with more than one employer and where medical science cannot prove who among a number of employers caused the condition. 7 The decision effectively creates joint and several liability whereby the claimant will be entitled to recover damages in full against each defendant. Also, the English Court of Appeal has ruled in 1996 that liability arose in respect of exposure to asbestos resulting in mesothelioma despite the fact that the disease was not known to medical science at any time during the relevant period of exposure. 8 The Court reached this decision by employing a broad concept of injury for the purposes of establishing reasonable foreseeability. This development is significant in light of the emphasis placed on the requirement of foreseeability by the House of Lords decision in Cambridge Water Co. v. Eastern Counties Leather. 9 Finally, the Irish Supreme Court has recently clarified the position in relation to liability for psychiatric illness arising from unfounded anxiety over negligent exposure to asbestos dust, finding, as a matter of policy, that no liability arose in the absence of physical injury The court must be satisfied that but for the acts or omissions of the defendant, the claimant would not have suffered the loss or damage. 7 Joined cases Fairchild v. Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd.; Fox v. Spousal (Midlands) Ltd.; Matthews v. Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (1978) Ltd. and others [2003] 1 A.C. 32 (H.L.(E)). See also Morgan, A., Inference, Principle and the Proof of Causation (2002) N.L.J Unreported, 17 April See further McIntyre, O., Liability for Asbestos-Related Illness (1996) 4 Irish Planning and Environmental Law Journal, [1994] 1 All ER 53 (H.L.). 10 February 2003.3 198 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [4:1 II. CAUSATION Establishing causation in toxic tort actions has long proven a difficult and even insurmountable task. For example, in Reay and Hope v. British Nuclear Fuels p.l.c. 11 the scientific complexity of establishing on the balance of probability a causal link between the defendant s operations and the plaintiffs leukaemia ultimately proved impossible. 12 Similarly, in Hanrahan v. Merck, Sharp & Dohme Ltd. 13 the difficulties in establishing causation with regard to most of the alleged interferences ultimately proved insurmountable. However, recognising that the onus of proving the causal link between the polluter s activities and the alleged damage can involve great scientific and financial difficulty, the Supreme Court in Hanrahan admitted the possibility of reversing the burden of proving causation in such cases. The Scottish case of Graham and Graham v. ReChem, 14 provides an extreme example of the practical problems which can be involved in establishing causation in toxic tort cases, involving an action in negligence and nuisance against the operator of a hazardous waste incinerator by local farmers for alleged damage to their cattle. The case lasted for 896 hours in court, spread over 198 days, and involved 80 lay witnesses and 21 expert witnesses on such issues as veterinary toxicology, agricultural accountancy, incinerator design, dioxin formation, pollution dispersion, analysis of trace organics and meteorology. The defendant s costs were estimated at Stg 4.5 million and the cost to the Legal Aid Board at Stg 1.5 million. 15 Ultimately, the case failed on the issue of causation as there were other possible explanations of the cattle s injuries. The disease of mesothelioma, which refers to a cancer of the lining of the lung (pleura) or of the abdomen (peritoneum), raises a number of issues in relation to causation. First of all, though the aetiology of the disease is far from clear, there is a clear consensus 11 [1994] 5 Med. L.R In relation to the problems of establishing causation in such negligence actions, see Day, M., Cancer: Proving the Causal Link, Tobacco, Radiation and Environmental Pollution (1998) 66 Medico-Legal Journal, [1988] I.L.R.M. 629 (S.C.). 14 [1996] Env. L.R. 158 (Q.B.D.). 15 See further Woolley, D., et al, Environmental Law (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000), p. 712.4 2004] Liability for Asbestos-related Illness : Redefining the Rules on Toxic Torts 199 that exposure to asbestos causes the overwhelming majority of cases. For example, of approximately 1,500 cases which occur in the UK annually, in only 50 or 60 cases is there no known history of exposure to asbestos dust. 16 Therefore, as fewer than 5% of mesothelioma cases arise in people with no known exposure to asbestos, a court is unlikely to consider an alternative cause of mesothelioma in a person occupationally exposed to asbestos. It is clear that increased exposure to asbestos will increase the risk of contracting the disease. However, it is not known whether a single fibre, the so-called single hit theory, or multiple fibres trigger the onset of the disease, with each situation considered as likely as the other. Therefore, mesothelioma is classified legally as an indivisible disease, as distinct from asbestosis which is divisible or cumulative. In the case of asbestosis, once the threshold for exposure is exceeded, all inhaled fibres are considered to contribute proportionately and progressively to lung dysfunction. This creates obvious difficulty for a plaintiff mesothelioma victim who has been negligently exposed to asbestos by a number of defendants, usually successive employers, in terms of establishing causation. In Fairchild, Curtis J. refused recovery at first instance to the estate of a mesothelioma victim suing two former owners of buildings in which he had worked and in which asbestos was present. 17 The Court found that there was no evidence of significant differences between the respective levels of exposure and was unable to establish on the balance of probabilities that the breaches of duty by either defendant were a cause or a material contribution to the deceased s mesothelioma. During the course of the trial, Dr. Rudd, an expert witness, was adamant that science could not determine during which period of employment the fibre which caused the disease was inhaled 18 and this evidence persuaded Curtis J. to conclude that: it simply cannot be said in this case: 16 See further Miller, C., Judicial approaches to contested causation: Fairchild v. Glenhaven Funeral Services in context (2002) 1 Law Probability and Risk, 119 at Queen s Bench Division, unreported, Curtis J., 1 February See Miller, C., Judicial Approaches to Contested Causation: Fairchild v. Glenhaven Funeral Services in Context (2002) 1 Law Probability and Risk, 119 at5 200 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [4:1 (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) whether a single fibre of asbestos is more or less likely to have caused the disease whether more than one fibre is more or less likely to have caused the disease even if multiple fibres are responsible, it cannot be shown that it is more likely than not those fibres came from one source no Court could find on the facts of this case that the deceased s fatal disease was caused cumulatively by the exposures 19 However, a mere five months after Curtis J. s decision in Fairchild, the English High Court reached a very different conclusion on very similar facts. 20 Where a mesothelioma victim sued two of 15 employers who had exposed him to asbestos during the course of his working life, Mr. Justice Mitting, relying on the 1972 decision of the House of Lords in McGhee 21 justified his award of full damages against both defendants stating: The claimant was exposed by each defendant and by both defendants, to asbestos fibres, in quantities sufficient greatly to increase his risk of contracting mesothelioma. 22 Indeed, Curtis J. declined to follow the earlier ruling of Phillips J. in a 1987 case, 23 again with strong evidential similarities to Fairchild, where he would appear to have anticipated the Lords later interpretation in Fairchild of their original intention in McGhee, 19 Queen s Bench Division, unreported, Curtis J., 1 February 2001, at para. 3 of the unreported judgment. 20 Matthews v. Associated Portland Cement and British Uralite p.l.c., Queen s Bench Division, unreported, 11 July Indeed, Dr. Rudd, the principle expert witness in Fairchild, also acted in Matthews giving substantially similar evidence, see Miller, C., Judicial Approaches to Contested Causation: Fairchild v. Glenhaven Funeral Services in Context (2002) 1 Law Probability and Risk, 119 at McGhee v. National Coal Board [1972] 3 All E.R (H.L.), where it held that an employer who causes an indivisible disease such as dermatitis through exposure, only some of which is negligent, shall be liable in full for that injury. 22 Matthews v. Associated Portland Cement and British Uralite p.l.c., Queen s Bench Division, unreported, 11 July 2001, at 18F. 23 Bryce v. Swan Hunter Group p.l.c. and others [1988] 1 All E.R. 658 (Q.B.D).6 2004] Liability for Asbestos-related Illness : Redefining the Rules on Toxic Torts 201 namely to prevent negligent employers escaping liability where scientific uncertainty makes the burden of proof unduly onerous. Phillips J. stated: Whether the defendants breaches of duty merely added to the number of possible initiators of mesothelioma within the lungs of Mr. Bryce, or whether they also produced a cumulative effect on the reduction of his body s defence mechanism, they increase the risk of his developing mesothelioma. He developed mesothelioma. Each of the defendants must accordingly be taken to have caused the mesothelioma by its breach of duty. 24 In finding for Mr. Bryce s estate, Phillips J. would appear to have also anticipated the Lords later relaxation of the rigid application of the traditional but-for test for causation: It follows that it is not possible for the plaintiff to prove on balance of probabilities that the additional fibres inhaled by Mr. Bryce as the result of breaches of duty by either defendant were a cause of his mesothelioma. It is equally impossible for either of the defendants to prove on balance of probabilities that their breaches of duty were not at least a contributory cause of Mr Bryce contracting the disease. 25 The confused position with regard to an indivisible disease contrasted with the approach of the courts to a disease with a cumulative aetiology, such as asbestosis, where it is accepted that all dust contributes to the final disability 26 and it is possible to effect a division of damages according to the relative duration or seriousness of each negligent exposure. In Holtby the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling of the Divisional Court which awarded damages to a marine fitter suffering from asbestosis as a result of 24 Bryce v. Swan Hunter Group p.l.c. and others [1988] 1 All E.R. 658 at 671 (Q.B.D). 25 Bryce v. Swan Hunter Group p.l.c. and others [1988] 1 All E.R. 658 at 671 (Q.B.D). 26 Holtby v. Brigham & Cowan (Hull) Ltd. [2000] 3 All E.R. 421 at 430 (C.A.).7 202 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [4:1 workplace exposure against a firm who employed him for about half the relevant period of exposure. Clarke L.J. relied upon a 1957 pneumoconiosis case 27 to argue that a defendant whose negligence made a material contribution should be liable in full unless he could prove that a definable part [of the injury] was caused by others. 28 In the same case, Stuart-Smith L.J. demonstrated something of the essential nature of a divisible injury by referring to a 1984 occupational deafness case 29 in which Mustill J. was prepared to reduce damages in respect of damage incurred in the period before the effects of industrial noise were fully realised by medical science. Though Holtby would appear to place the onus on the defendant to prove the extent to which other persons contributed to the claimant s injury, the Court of Appeal has subsequently stated in relation to another divisible occupational disease, vibration white finger, that : in principle the amount of the employer s liability will be limited to the extent of the contribution which his tortuous conduct made to the employee s disability [and that it is for the Court to do] the best it can on the evidence to make the apportionment The Court of Appeal heard conjoined appeals in both Fairchild and Matthews and two similar cases 31 and strongly approved Curtis J. s reasoning in Fairchild at first instance. The Court would appear to have taken a very conservative approach to the development of the common law requiring that, once the disease has arisen, the claimants must prove, on the balance of probabilities, that the particular tortfeasor had actually caused the disease. The Court of Appeal relied on the dicta of Lord Bridge in Wilsher v. Essex Area Health Authority 32 to the effect that McGhee established no new principle of law whatever and that their Lordships in that case had reached their decision upon an inference of fact. The Court of 27 Nicholson v. Atlas Steel Foundry and Engineering Co. Ltd. [1957] 1 All E.R. 776 (H.L.). 28 Holtby v. Brigham & Cowan (Hull) Ltd. [2000] 3 All E.R. 421 at 432 (C.A.). 29 Thompson v. Smiths Repairers (North Shields) Ltd. [1984] 1 All E.R. 881 (Q.B.D.). 30 Allen v. British Rail Engineering Ltd. [2001] E.W.C.A. Civ. 242 at para. 20 (C.A.). 31 [2002] P.I.Q.R. P27 (C.A.). 32 [1988] 1 All E.R. 871 (H.L.).8 2004] Liability for Asbestos-related Illness : Redefining the Rules on Toxic Torts 203 Appeal found that although it could be properly said that each tortious exposure to asbestos dust increased the employee s risk of contracting the mesothelioma the claim in each case is not based on an increased risk the only damages that can be claimed are for contracting the disease. 33 Therefore, where it could not be established on the balance of probabilities which exposure or exposures to asbestos fibres were responsible for causing or materially contributing to a plaintiff s mesothelioma, the Court of Appeal was not prepared to equate a material contribution to the risk that a disease will arise with a material contribution to the cause of that disease if it does in fact arise. The Court of Appeal decision raised the possibility that a large number of people suffering from the most common industrial diseases would be deprived of the right to claim compensation where they could neither establish that a particular period of exposure was more or less likely to have caused the disease nor that the disease was caused cumulatively by exposure in more than one employment. However, the House of Lords judgment in Fairchild 34 now relaxes the traditional test for establishing causation where there are multiple potential tortfeasors, holding that, in the case of an indivisible injury such as mesothelioma, any tortfeasor could be liable for the whole of the injury once liability has been established. The House of Lords relied on its earlier decision in McGhee v. National Coal Board 35 where it held that an employer who causes an indivisible disease such as dermatitis through exposure, only some of which is negligent, shall be liable in full for that injury. In this case, the plaintiff s employers failed, in breach of duty, to provide him with adequate washing facilities at his place of work and, having to cycle home covered in dust, he developed an extensive irritation of 33 [2002] P.I.Q.R. P27 at para. 105 (C.A.). 34 Joined cases Fairchild v. Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd.; Fox v. Spousal (Midlands) Ltd.; Matthews v. Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (1978) Ltd. and others [2003] 1 A.C. 32 (H.L.(E.)). See also Morgan, A., Inference, Principle and the Proof of Causation (2002) N.L.J [1972] 3 All E.R (H.L.).9 204 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [4:1 the skin diagnosed as dermatitis. The House of Lords unanimously allowed the appeal holding that if the defendant s conduct made a material contribution to his contracting the disease, he was entitled to succeed. The Lords stressed in McGhee that theirs was a common sense understanding of causation having regard to the circumstances of such cases. According to Lord Reid: it has often been said that the legal concept of causation is not based on logic or philosophy. It is based on the practical way in which the ordinary man s mind works in the every-day affairs of life. From a broad and practical viewpoint I can see no substantial difference between saying that what the respondents did materially increased the risk of injury to the appellant and saying that what the respondents did made a material contribution to his injury. 36 Interestingly, Lord Reid, who, in McGhee, devised the formula which the other Lords substantially accepted, had some years earlier rejected an excessively restrictive approach to the question of causation, 37 where an employee had contracted silicosis after inhaling dust from two sources, one tortious (i.e. swing grinders) the other not (i.e. pneumatic hammers), to which he was regularly exposed during the course of his employment in a foundry. He stated: but I cannot agree that the question is which was the more probable source of [the plaintiff s] disease, the dust from the pneumatic hammers or the dust from the swing grinders. It appears to me that the source of his disease was the dust from both sources, and the real question is whether the dust from the swing grinders materially contributed to the disease [1972] 3 All E.R at 1011 (H.L.). 37 Bonnington Castings Ltd. v. Wardlaw [1956] 1 All E.R. 615 (H.L.). 38 Bonnington Castings Ltd. v. Wardlaw [1956] 1 All E.R. 615 at 618 (H.L.).10 2004] Liability for Asbestos-related Illness : Redefining the Rules on Toxic Torts 205 Unlike the Court of Appeal, a 4:1 majority of the House of Lords found that a new principle of law had been established in McGhee and that it was applicable in the present cases. Applying the McGhee principle, the Lords found that the traditional but for test for causation was inappropriate for such cases, Lord Hoffman stating that I think it would be both inconsistent with the policy of the law imposing the duty and morally wrong for your Lordships to impose causal requirements which exclude liability. 39 Indeed, Lord Bingham felt that it would be better expressly to recognise that the ordinary approach to proof of causation is varied than to resort to the drawing of legal inferences inconsistent with the proven facts 40 while Lord Nicholls stated clearly that the Court is applying a different and less stringent test. It were best if this were recognised openly. 41 Significantly, Lord Hoffman approved the test for causation proposed by the Supreme Court of California in Rutherford v. Owens-Illinois Inc. 42, stating that the causal requirements of the tort were satisfied by proving that exposure to a particular product was a substantial factor contributing to the risk of developing cancer. 43 The fault of the defendant remains central however, Lord Hutton stating that the approach taken by this house in McGhee is one which should be followed by trial judges where the claimant can prove the employer s breach of duty materially increased the risk of him contracting a particular disease and the disease occurred. 44 The Lords relied, to a considerable extent, on policy considerations to justify overturning the Court of Appeal s ruling in this case and removing a significant obstacle to claims for compensation for many victims suffering from industrial diseases. For example, Lord Bingham states that such injustice as may be involved in imposing liability on a duty-breaking employer in these circumstances is heavily outweighed by the injustice of denying redress to a victim. 45 Similarly, Lord Nicholls notes that a 39 [2003] 1 A.C. 32 at 75 (H.L.(E.)). 40 [2003] 1 A.C. 32 at 68 (H.L.(E.)). 41 [2003] 1 A.C. 32 at 71 (H.L.(E.)). 42 (1997) 67 Cal. Reptr. 2d 16 (S.C.). 43 [2003] 1 A.C. 32 at 77 (H.L.(E.)). 44 [2003] 1 A.C. 32 at 91 (H.L.(E.)). 45 [2003] 1 A.C. 32 at 67 (H.L.(E.)).11 206 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [4:1 former employee s inability to identify which particular period of wrongful exposure brought about the onset of his disease ought not, in all justice, preclude recovery of compensation. 46 Interestingly, each of their Lordships have sought to limit the scope of this principle, Lord Bingham, for example, referring only to claims relating to mesothelioma. However, considering the origin of the principle in McGhee, it is difficult to see how the principle would not apply to all indivisible diseases, including less serious diseases such as dermatitis. III. FORSEEABILITY The unique characteristics associated with the disease of mesothelioma have also resulted in the English courts taking an innovative approach to the issue of foreseeability of damage for the purposes of liability. The disease can develop from a very short period of exposure, even from a single instance of exposure, but only manifests itself many years after exposure. According to statistics published by the insurer Munich Re, the average latency period for asbestos-related mesothelioma is 34 years 47 and epidemiology suggests that it is so rare for the latency period to be less than ten years that exposures within ten years of diagnosis may be excluded as causal. 48 The problems that such a long latency period might cause for a plaintiff were illustrated in a 1984 occupational deafness case, Thompson v. Smiths Repairers (North Sheilds) Ltd. 49 in which Mustill J. was prepared to reduce damages in respect of injury incurred in the period before the effects of industrial noise were fully realised by medical science. In joined cases Margereson v. J.W. Roberts Ltd. and Hancock v. J.W. Roberts Ltd. 50 the plaintiffs sued an asbestos manufacturer after having contracted mesothelioma due to extensive asbestos 46 [2003] 1 A.C. 32 at 70 (H.L.(E.)). 47 Munich Re, Employers Liability Handbook. See further Buckley, A.J., Causation and Compensation in Asbestos Related Disease Claims (2002) Commercial Law Practitioner, 191 at See further Miller, C., Judicial Approaches to Contested Causation: Fairchild v. Glenhaven Funeral Services in Context (2002) 1 Law Probability and Risk, 119 at [1984] 1 All E.R. 881; [1984] Q.B. 405 (Q.B.D.). 50 [1996] P.I.Q.R. P358 (C.A.).12 2004] Liability for Asbestos-related Illness : Redefining the Rules on Toxic Torts 207 contamination by the defendants of the district of Armley in Leeds where both plaintiffs had lived as children. Both sued in negligence and strict liability (Rylands v. Fletcher) 51 and/or nuisance, though only liability in negligence was considered by the court. It was never disputed by the defendant that the steps taken by them to mitigate the problems of asbestos dust contamination were woefully inadequate. At trial, Holland J. found for the plaintiffs despite the fact that at no material time was mesothelioma a concept known to medical science. It was established at trial that the relevant period was from 1925, when Mr. Margereson was born, to 1951, when Mrs Hancock left the immediate district. The association between asbestos and mesothelioma was first noted in However, the Chief Inspector of Factories and Workshops condemned asbestos as early as 1898 as necessarily injurious to a greater or lesser degree according to the constitution of the persons 53 and again, in 1907, the Chief Inspector reported that [t]here seems no question that the asbestos fibre is of a kind likely to injure the lungs 54 The defendant appealed on the ground that there was no culpable lack of foresight on their part as they did not know and had no reason to believe that the risk of mesothelioma existed. They referred to a seminal report from 1930, 55 presented in evidence at trial, the real purpose of which, they submitted, was to highlight the risks of asbestosis among asbestos workers. The appellant argued that the trial judge had regarded the report as the trigger for the Asbestos Industry Regulations, 1931 (in force March 1933). It was contended that it was not until about 1933, on the judge s findings, that they could be regarded as fixed with adequate knowledge of the dangers of asbestos, and then, only with regard to the condition of asbestosis, a condition of gradual onset over a prolonged period of time. The 51 (1868) L.R. 3 H.L. 330 (H.L.). 52 Wagner, J.C. et al, Diffuse Pleural Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure in the North Western Cape Province (1960) 17 British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 266; Newhouse, M.L., et al, Mesothelioma of Pleura and Peritoneum Following Exposure to Asbestos in the London Area (1965) 22 British Journal of Industrial Medicine, Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories and Workshops 1898, British Parliamentary Papers (27) (Industrial Relations, Factories, 1898), p Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories and Workshops 1907 (HMSO, London, 1908), p Merewether, E.R.A., and Price, C.W., Report on Effects of Asbestos Dust on the Lungs and Dust Suppression in the Asbestos Industry (HMSO, London, 1930).13 208 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [4:1 respondents pointed out that the 1930 report also spoke of local effects following the inhalation of dust including pulmonary and bronchial catarrh, bronchitis, fibrosis and secondary changes such as emphysema and that there existed a great deal of additional written material on lung damage caused by exposure to asbestos dust. Some of this material dated from prior to the turn of the century. The Court of Appeal rejected the appeal stating that liability would arise where the applicant should reasonably have foreseen a risk of some pulmonary injury, not necessarily mesothelioma, and, that the damage occurred at a time when the applicant was on actual or constructive notice as to the potential pulmonary damage that exposure to asbestos could cause. The Court also considered whether any distinction could sensibly be made between employees working within the factory and local residents. It asked did the factory wall pose such a barrier that risk of injury to persons on the other side amount at worst to no more than a mere possibility which would never occur to the mind of a reasonable man? 56 and agreed with the trial judge that if the conditions outside the factory are not materially different to those giving rise to a duty of care within, there is no reason not to extend to that extramural neighbour a comparable duty of care. 57 Therefore, the case extends liability to cover non-workers injured as a result of exposure to asbestos, but only where conditions were similar to those for asbestos workers. The trial judge, Holland J., made this requirement clear when he stated: Introduce the fact of distance and the balance of probabilities favours defendants. The inhalation that was condemned in the 1930 report and that founded the 1931 regulations is a concept that was then to be readily associated with the immediate environs of this factory, but not elsewhere. 58 However, the decision still has implications for cases where environmental pollution causes personal injury to persons other than 56 [1996] P.I.Q.R. P358 at 362 (C.A.) per Russell L.J. 57 [1996] P.I.Q.R. P358 at 362 (C.A.) per Russell L.J. 58 [1996] P.I.Q.R. P154 at 186 (Q.B.D.) per Holland J.14 2004] Liability for Asbestos-related Illness : Redefining the Rules on Toxic Torts 209 employees of the tortfeasor in that it further develops case-law relating to the extension of an employer s duty of care beyond the factory wall. The English courts had tended to be wary of extending the situations in which a duty of care applies. For example, in Gunn v. Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Co. Ltd. 59 it was held that no duty of care existed in respect of a woman who had died of mesothelioma after inhaling asbestos dust from work clothes worn by her husband while working in the defendant s shipyard. The Court of Appeal reached the same conclusion in Hewett v. Alf Brown s Transport Ltd., 60 which concerned exposure to lead oxide on a worker s overalls. The decision in Margereson and Hancock appears to water down the onerous principle, requiring the tortfeasor to be aware of a particular risk, implicit in Graham v. Cooperative Wholesale Society Ltd., 61 which concerned a claim for dermatitis caused by mahogany dust, and Tremain v. Pike 62 which concerned a claim for contracting Weil s disease. This approach appears to have been approved subsequently by the Court of Appeal in Shell Tankers U.K. Ltd. v. Betty Irene Jeromson 63 where, in facts very similar to Margereson and Hancock, Lady Justice Hale stated: The point which impressed the [trial] judge was the certain knowledge that asbestos dust was dangerous and the absence of any knowledge, and indeed any means of knowledge, about what constituted a safe level of exposure But just as courts must beware using such later developments to inflate the knowledge which should have been available earlier, they must beware using it to the contrary effect. The fact that other and graver risks emerged later does not detract from the power of what was already known 64 It remains to be seen whether this decision has implications beyond personal injury actions 65 and whether the courts are prepared 59 The Times, 23 January (1992) 4 Land Management and Environmental Law Review, [1957] 1 All E.R. 654 (C.A.). 62 [1969] 1 W.L.R (C.A.). 63 [2001] E.W.C.A. Civ. 101, 2 February, 2001 (C.A.). 64 [2001] E.W.C.A. Civ. 101, 2 February, 2001, para. 52 (C.A.). 65 Following the House of Lords decision in Page v. Smith [1996] A.C. 155 (H.L.), it is sufficient if any personal injury to a primary victim is foreseeable.15 210 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [4:1 to apply a less onerous test of foreseeability in cases of environmental damage generally. Where any particular class of environmental damage was foreseeable, liability might arise for any other type of damage in that class. Such a development would be of considerable significance in the light of Cambridge Water Co. v. Eastern Counties Leather 66 where the House of Lords held that foreseeability of damage was an essential requirement for liability under both nuisance and Rylands v. Fletcher. If the courts were to examine foreseeability in the context of broad classes of damage, the test of foreseeability, seen by many commentators as one of the factors responsible for the failure of tort to compensate for historic pollution, would effectively be relaxed. The test may now relate to the foreseeability of some relevant damage. IV. NERVOUS ANXIETY The Irish Supreme Court has recently had to decide on the availability of damages in negligence for nervous anxiety suffered by a plaintiff as a result of negligent exposure to asbestos during the course of his employment and his irrational fear of contracting mesothelioma in the future. 67 The plaintiff, who worked as a general operative in Leinster House, was engaged between 1985 and 1989 in assisting plumbers, electricians and fitters in the maintenance of the central heating system and was regularly obliged to remove lagging in order to enable these tradesmen to get access to pipe work. This work resulted in significant quantities of asbestos dust being released into the air in confined areas and the trial judge found as a fact that he had inhaled very large quantities of asbestos dust over the relevant period. O Neill J. concluded on the facts that the defendants were guilty of gross negligence and that no question of contributory negligence arose. In his expert evidence, Prof. Luke Clancy, a consultant respiratory physician and acknowledged expert on respiratory diseases resulting from exposure to asbestos, testified 66 [1994] 1 All E.R. 53 (H.L.). 67 February It should be noted that the Supreme Court has distinguished the more recent but factually similar case of Swaine v. The Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, The Irish Times, 7 May 2003, as the defence had withdrawn any plea denying liability to pay damages and the case proceeded as an assessment of damages only.16 2004] Liability for Asbestos-related Illness : Redefining the Rules on Toxic Torts 211 that the plaintiff had been exposed to the risk of developing asbestosis and was also at an increased risk of lung cancer, but that he had not contracted either disease and that it was very unlikely that he ever now would. More significantly however, he also testified that as a result of his exposure to asbestos, the plaintiff was at risk of contracting mesothelioma in later life, though he concluded that this risk was very remote. He based this conclusion on the fact that cases of mesothelioma are quite rare, with his practice encountering no more than three or four cases a year despite the fact that exposure to asbestos is widespread throughout the whole community. Also, though the plaintiff was likely to have inhaled asbestos fibres which would have remained in his body and caused microscopic scarring, on examination there were no manifestations of the scarring visible on x-ray and there were no signs of pleural plaques which would have been indicative of the kind of damage likely to lead to the onset of mesothelioma. Despite such reassurances, however, the plaintiff continued to worry about the possible danger to his health and he was eventually diagnosed by a consultant psychiatrist, Dr. Griffen, as suffering from reactive anxiety neurosis, which, as the trial judge found, could not be assuaged by counselling or the best available medical advice. In his evidence, Dr. Griffin informed the Court that reactive anxiety neurosis is a recognisable psychiatric disorder which would come within the international classification of psychiatric diseases. On these facts, the trial judge, O Neill J., found that the plaintiff s psychiatric illness was the result of his exposure to asbestos, rather than his having become aware of the risk arising from such exposure, and that it was reasonably foreseeable that it could result for a person of normal fortitude. Therefore, he did not need to consider the Supreme Court decision in Kelly v. Hennessy 68 which provides that a plaintiff may only recover for psychiatric illness unaccompanied by physical injury where he has suffered a recognisable psychiatric illness as a result of a nervous shock. He found for the plaintiff, holding that he was entitled to recover for the psychiatric illness he had suffered as a result of the defendants negligence, and assessed damages in the sum of 48,000. The defendants accepted the trial judge s findings of fact but appealed, 68 [1995] 2 I.R. 253 (S.C.).17 212 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [4:1 arguing that he had erred in law. On appeal to the Supreme Court, Keane C.J. accepted that the consequences for the plaintiff ought reasonably to have been foreseen by the defendants and also established that a relationship of proximity existed between the plaintiff and the defendants, which gives rise to the legal duty to take care that the foreseeable consequence was avoided. He referred approvingly to the majority decision of the House of Lords in Page v. Smith 69 which provides that once it was reasonably foreseeable that personal injury would occur as a result of the defendants negligence, it was immaterial whether the injury actually sustained was psychiatric as distinct from physical. Further in relation to foreseeability, Keane C.J. found that, in determining whether the defendants ought to have foreseen that the plaintiff would be at risk of psychiatric injury, the injury need not be one which would have been suffered by a person of ordinary fortitude and that the defendants must take their victim as they find him. In this regard, he adopted the approach taken by Lord Lloyd in Page v. Smith and by Geoffrey Lane J. in Malcolm v. Broadhurst 70 whereby there was no distinction between an eggshell skull and an eggshell personality. Therefore, he could conclude that: The fact that the advice he received was that he was at no more than a very remote risk of contracting the disease would not be a reason, in principle, for relieving the defendants of liability in limine Also, in relation to the distinction made by the English courts in so-called nervous shock cases between primary victims and secondary victims, the Chief Justice was satisfied that, as an employee, the plaintiff was not in any sense a secondary victim, whose relationship to the primary victims was not sufficiently close or whose nervous shock was not the result of a sufficiently direct or immediate perception of the traumatic event in question. Indeed, he endorses the Circuit Court decision of His Honour Judge McMahon 69 [1996] A.C. 155 (H.L.). 70 [1970] 3 All E.R. 508 (Q.B.D.) 71 February 2003, at p. 26 of the unreported judgment.18 2004] Liability for Asbestos-related Illness : Redefining the Rules on Toxic Torts 213 in Curran v. Cadbury (Ireland) Ltd. 72 to the effect that an employee who suffers nervous shock as a result of negligence in the workplace does not have to be characterised as a primary or secondary victim. Therefore, the limitations on the extent of admissible claims by secondary victims developed by the English courts 73 would have no bearing on the plaintiff s case. Keane C.J. also felt compelled to consider whether this case constituted a nervous shock claim, in which case there would exist authority for the award of damages for a specified psychiatric disorder unaccompanied by any physical injury, provided the conditions laid down by Hamilton C.J. in Kelly v. Hennessy were met. 74 However, having regard to the dicta of, inter alia, Lord Ackner who stated in Alcock 75 that shock involves the sudden appreciation by sight or sound of a horrifying event, which violently affects the mind 76 the Chief Justice concluded that: In the present case, there was no shock of that nature: no sudden perception of a frightening event or its immediate aftermath, disturbing the mind of the witness to such an extent that a recognisable psychiatric illness supervened [2000] 2 I.L.R.M. 343 (C.C.). 73 See for example McLoughlin v. O Brian [1983] A.C. 410 (H.L.); Alcock & Others v. Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 A.C. 310 (H.L.(E.)); White v. Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1999] 2 A.C. 455 (H.L.). 74 [1995] 2 I.R. 253 (S.C.). The five conditions may be paraphrased as follows: 1. The plaintiff must establish that he/she actually suffered nervous shock, comprising any recognisable psychiatric illness. 2. A plaintiff must establish that his/her psychiatric illness was shock induced. 3. A plaintiff must prove that the nervous shock was caused by the defendant s act or omission. 4. The nervous shock sustained by the plaintiff must be by reason of actual or apprehended physical injury to the plaintiff or a person other than the plaintiff. 5. The plaintiff must show that the defendant owed him/her a duty of care not to cause him/her a reasonably foreseeable injury in the form of nervous shock. 75 [1992] 2 A.C. 455 (H.L.). See also the examples of psychiatric illness which could not be said to be induced by shock provided by Brennan J. in the Australian case of Jaensch v. Coffey (1984) 155 C.L.R. 549 (H.C.A.), including psychiatric illness resulting from the stress caused to a spouse in caring for an injured spouse or to a parent in coping with the wayward conduct of a brain-damaged child. 76 [1992] 1 A.C. 310 at 401 (H.L.(E.). 77 February 2003, at p. 30 of the unreported judgment.19 214 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [4:1 Therefore, it was necessary to consider whether liability in negligence could arise in respect of a plaintiff suffering a psychiatric illness brought about otherwise than by nervous shock, an issue which the Chief Justice described as uncharted territory for our courts 78 and one which could only be resolved by determining whether or not the extension of the law to permit the recovery of damages in cases such as the present should be excluded on policy grounds. 79 Keane C.J. readily accepts that policy considerations have a significant role to play in determining whether particular categories of negligence which have not hitherto been recognised by judicial decision should be so recognised and illustrates this position by pointing out that the ground for not extending liability to all forms of economic loss is the undesirability of courts extending the range of possible liability in so uncontrolled and indeterminate a manner without any legislative intervention. 80 The Chief Justice articulates the general policy arguments mitigating against an extension of liability to cover general psychiatric injury, including the floodgates argument, concern that the prospect of compensation would not assist a plaintiff s recovery, and the desirability of legislative action in the area, but he goes on to consider a number of specific policy considerations which, in the case of fear of disease cases, argue even more powerfully against the imposition of liability. The first of these involves the undesirability of awarding damages to a plaintiff whose psychiatric condition is solely due to an unfounded fear of contracting a particular disease as this would reward a plaintiff who prefers to rely on the ill-informed comments of friends or acquaintances or inaccurate and sensational media reports rather than the considered view of an experienced physician. 81 As McNulty J. stated in the Appellate Court of Illinois 78 February 2003, at p. 30 of the unreported judgment. 79 February 2003, at p. 31 of the unreported judgment. 80 February 2003, at p. 31 of the unreported judgment. 81 February 2003, at p. 35 of the unreported judgment.20 2004] Liability for Asbestos-related Illness : Redefining the Rules on Toxic Torts 215 in Majca v. Beekil 82 such broad recovery rewards ignorance about the disease and its causes. The second such policy consideration relates to the potential negative implications of such an extension of liability for the health care field and the Chief Justice quotes at length from the judgment of Baxter J. giving the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of California in Potter and Others v. Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company: 83 New data about potentially harmful effects [of new drugs] may not develop for years. If and when negative data are discovered and made public, however, one can expect numerous law suits to be filed by patients who currently have no physical injury or illness but who nonetheless fear the risk of adverse effects from the drugs they used. Unless meaningful restrictions are placed on this potential plaintiff class, the threat of numerous large, adverse monetary awards, coupled with the added cost of insuring against such liability (assuming insurance would be available) could diminish the availability of new, beneficial drugs or increase their price beyond the reach of those who need them most. 84 Keane C.J. was also impressed by Baxter J. s related argument that there would be serious implications for medical negligence cases grounded on the fear of plaintiffs having contracted a disease as the result of having been prescribed a particular drug. He points out that two cases involving claims for emotional distress arising out of exposure to asbestos have come before the United States Supreme Court and that, largely due to the policy considerations enumerated above, in each a majority concluded that, in order to recover for emotional distress, the plaintiff should have sustained a physical impact and that mere contact with asbestos-laden insulation dust did not constitute such an impact (1997) 682 N.E. 2D 253 (C.A.). 83 (1993) 25 Cal. Rptr. 2d 550 (S.C.). 84 February 2003, at p. 36 of the unreported judgment. 85 Consolidated Rail Corporation v. Gottshall (1993) 512 U.S. 532 (S.C.) and Metro North Commuter Railroad Company v. Michael Buckley (1997) 521 U.S. 424 (S.C.). View more
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