Court Opinion

ID: 9752556
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 18:14:39.941351+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:17.427595
License: Public Domain

HANDLER, J.,
dissenting.
The Court in this case presents an answer, foreshadowed but not expressed, to the question implicit in Ayers v. Jackson Township, 106 N.J. 557 (1987): whether a jury may consider the enhanced risk of cancer as a separate element of damages against a non-government defendant attributable to the exposure of carcinogens where the plaintiff has sustained a present injury and can prove an increased risk of cancer from statistical evidence. The Court now drops the other shoe. It extends and applies the reasoning of Ayers to this case, determining that our current tort law effectively bars all enhanced risk claims. I dissent from the Court’s decision.
*146I.
On April 22,1983, Roger Mauro and his wife filed a complaint against several manufacturers of asbestos products for injuries he sustained as a result of inhalation of asbestos fibers during the course of his employment at the Ancora State Psychiatric Hospital from 1964 to the present. From 1964 to the mid-to-late 70s, Mauro used or was exposed to asbestos-containing materials including pipe covering and asbestos cement manufactured by defendants.
In 1981 Mauro found out through a New Jersey Department of Health screening program that although his physical examination and lung function test was “normal,” he had bilateral pleural thickening of both chest walls and calcification of the diaphragm. Dr. Gann, Chief of Occupational Medicine of the New Jersey Department of Health informed Mauro of his condition by stating, “Your exposure to asbestos has been significant and there is some evidence that this exposure may have increased your risk of developing lung cancer.”
At trial, plaintiff called Dr. James Guidice, a pulmonary specialist, as an expert witness. He diagnosed plaintiffs disease as “pleural asbestosis,” evidenced by scarring of the lung lining, pleural plaque formation, and diaphragmatic calcification. The expert testified without substantial contradictions that asbestos exposure can cause cancer particularly of the lungs, larynx, and gastrointestinal tract. According to Dr. Guidice, there was a “probability” that because of Mauro’s “asbestos exposure, the risk of cancer, specifically asbestos-related cancer[,] is a major concern,” and that “there is a high probability he’s at ... increased risk ... for developing cancer.” Dr. Guidice stated, however, that he had not quantified either Mauro’s increased risk of contracting cancer or the increased risk of asbestos-related cancer in plumbers and steamfitters as an occupational group. Also, he could not state, to a degree of reasonable medical probability, that Mauro would get cancer. He did, however, attempt to refer to statistical and *147epidemiological studies indicating a range of twenty- to forty-three percent chancé of malignancy due to asbestosis.
At the end of the trial, the trial court refused to submit to the jury Mauro’s claim for enhanced risk of developing cancer. The court found that “in New Jersey damages may not be awarded for a future injury which is merely possible but not probable.” The Appellate Division affirmed the trial court’s ruling that under Ayers, unless plaintiff could prove to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that cancer was more probable than not, his claim for increased risk of cancer could not be sustained. 225 N.J.Super. 196. This Court now affirms the Appellate Division judgment, finding that plaintiff cannot receive damages for enhanced risk of cancer unless those prospective damages are reasonably probable to occur. The Court does, however, allow plaintiff to sue defendants at some later date when the cancer occurs, despite the entire controversy doctrine and the statutes of limitations.
II.
The Court refuses to allow any recovery by a plaintiff now suffering from pre-cancerous lung disease for the palpable and demonstrable risk that he or she will incur cancer. The Court purports to follow ancient wisdom, namely, our traditional legal rules that over the years have sufficed to define compensable injury. These conventional rules of damages, expressed more than thirty years ago, e.g., Budden v. Goldstein, 43 N.J.Super. 340, 346-47 (1957), do not permit the recovery of damages for prospective injury unless it is reasonably probable to occur, ibid.; Coll v. Sherry, 29 N.J. 166, 174-75 (1959). Such a rule has always been considered adequate and just because it generates a greater assurance that the measurement of such damages would not be suffused by undue conjecture and speculation.
However, the Court’s invocation of that rule to the difficult question of damages posed by the current case is ritualistic. *148The traditional rule, at least considered in the context of this case, can no longer be reconciled with the knowledge and experience that has emerged in recent years. This common knowledge and experience confirms for us that there is a genuine, substantial, and palpable risk that a person with defendant’s condition will incur cancer as a result of exposure to asbestos. The Court effectively smothers that understanding when it insists on applying the traditional rule of damages.
I stress what seems truly indisputable — the genuineness, actuality, and gravity of the risk of cancer to one exposed to asbestos over a long period of time and currently manifesting asbestos-related disease. The Court itself acknowledges that this risk is “significant.” However, it concludes that it cannot be compensable as an element of damages because this would “represent ] a significant departure from traditional, prevailing legal principles.” Ante at 132.
The Court advances several reasons for refusing to depart from those conventional rules and to deny recovery for plaintiff based on his enhanced-risk claim. First, it finds that most courts that have considered the issue have concluded that plaintiff cannot get damages for the prospective disease unless the disease is reasonably probable to occur. Several federal district court decisions in New Jersey, however, have allowed evidence of enhanced risk of cancer in asbestos litigation. For example, in Gold v. Johns-Manville, No. 80-2907, bench op. (D.N.J.1984), Judge Ackerman ruled at a pretrial hearing that the plaintiffs in an asbestos action could submit evidence on the incremental risk of contracting cancer where scientific evidence indicated a forty- to forty-five percent chance of contracting cancer. Id. at 35. The court held that because of this evidence, it was improper to take the issue of increased risk, which was “essentially factual,” from the jury. The court stated:
The scientific reports indicate a forty to forty-five percent chance of contracting cancer among asbestos workers. It will be for the jury to determine whether *149the future onset of cancer is probable based on the proofs presented by the plaintiffs and subject to cross-examination by the defendants. [Id. at 36-37.]
See also Iaconelli v. Johns-Manville, No. 82-2685, bench op. (D.N.J. Nov. 12, 1985) (holding that plaintiffs claim for increased risk of cancer was cognizable because plaintiff had a “substantial presently diagnosed physical injury — pleural asbestosis”); Valori v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp., No. 82-2686 (D.N.J. Dec. 11, 1985) (1985 Westlaw 6074) (allowing admission of evidence that plaintiff suffering from asbestosis had forty-three percent likelihood of contracting lung cancer to prove claim based on enhanced risk of cancer); Lewitt v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp., No. 81-2950, letter op. at 5 (D.N.J. March 11, 1985) (holding admissible statistical evidence of increased risk of cancer among plaintiffs with asbestosis, although less than a reasonable medical probability, to support claim for enhanced risk of cancer). Thus, although courts have denied enhanced-risk claims, some courts have found that the issue of whether an enhanced risk of cancer deserves damages is a factual inquiry for a jury determination. Moreover, there is growing acknowledgement of the need, grounded in fairness and justice, for allowing a recovery based on such a significant risk of harm. See, e.g., Gale & Goyer, Recovery for Cancerphobia and Increased Risk of Cancer, 15 Cumb.L.Rev. 723, 741-44 (1985); Seltzer, Personal Injury Hazardous Waste Litigation: A Proposal for Tort Reform, 10 B.C.Envtl.Aff.L.Rev. 797, 844 (1982-83); Note, Increased Risk of Cancer as an Actionable Injury, 18 Ga.L.Rev. 563, 591-92 (1984); Note, The Inapplicability of Traditional Tort Analysis to Environmental Risks: The Example of Toxic Waste Pollution Victim Compensation, 35 Stan.L.Rev. 575, 618 (1983); Comment, Increased Risk of Disease from Hazardous Waste: A Proposal for Judicial Relief, 60 Wash.L.Rev. 635, 643-48 (1985).
The Court, as noted, also inveighs against the prospect of speculative awards. Enhanced risk claims that do not meet the reasonable medical probability standard, according to the Court, “if presented to juries, would require damage awards for *150diseases that are prospective, speculative, and less likely to occur.” Ante at 142-143). I do not believe, however, that enhanced risk of cancer damages are any more speculative than other damage claims allowed and that they should be denied because they are not easily quantifiable.
I stress only that if it is just and fair, and it is, to compensate a victim in one case for an unquantified enhanced risk of future disease, it cannot be right to deny recovery in a second case also involving a claim of unquantified enhanced risk. “[T]o deny ... redress for ... injuries merely because damages cannot be measured with precise exactitude would constitute a perversion of fundamental principles of justice.” Berman v. Allan, 80 N.J. 421, 433 (1979) (Handler, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). “[Ejven where the pitfalls of measuring damages have been genuine, we have not refused to grapple with the complexities in order to recognize the justness and fairness of relief.” Schroeder v. Perkel, 87 N.J. 53, 77 (1981) (Handler, J., concurring in part, dissenting in part). It is the reality of injury presented by evidence, informed by experts, and tested by common sense and ordinary experience, that is the benchmark for damages. “Some of these losses ... might be hard to sense, difficult to define and puzzling to evaluate. They are, nonetheless, actual and constitute a sound basis for a lawful claim for redress and compensation.” Berman v. Allan, supra, 80 N.J. at 446 (Handler, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). [Ayers, 106 N.J. at 617 (Handler, J., dissenting).]
Indeed, the Court’s solution, which denies any present recovery, nevertheless would allow recovery where plaintiffs claim for increased risk amounts to reasonable medical probability. This suggests, for example, that if a plaintiff has a 51% chance of developing cancer, his or her damage claim would be decided by a jury. This line drawing, however, seems unfair and arbitrary. For example, why should a plaintiff recover for a 51% risk of developing prostate cancer where the normal person’s risk may be 30% (a 21% increase due to defendant’s conduct) but not an individual who has a 25% risk of skin cancer where the normal person’s risk is 1% (a 24% increase due to defendant’s conduct)? It would be more fair and just if the jury could weigh the enhanced risk of cancer with the defendant’s conduct in causing plaintiff’s current condition and then assess the appropriate damages to compensate plaintiff adequately.
The Court also bases its decision on public-policy considerations. First, it finds that there are vast numbers of asbestos-*151related claims in courts and that litigating enhanced-risk claims would be “too burdensome.” Why? The claim based on the enhanced risk of cancer would be only one element of damages that would be presented with other medical and relevant proofs relating to a plaintiff’s injuries and general condition. The Court does not bother to explain how evidence relating to this one element, in addition to admissible proofs relating to plaintiff’s current disease and its future consequences, shortened life expectancy, the need for medical surveillance, his or her emotional distress and mental anguish, economic losses, per quod claims and the like, all of which are concededly allowable, would unduly complicate or burden this litigation. Nor does the Court explain whether its solution will and can avoid burdening the legal system, if not today, surely tomorrow. The Court proposes to reserve for the future any claims relating to cancer attributable to the current toxic exposure. Such an action brought long after the current actions are concluded will present enormous procedural and administrative obstacles. Many such actions will be undertaken when evidence will have vanished, witnesses will be gone, memories dimmed, and transcripts, needed for purposes of preparation, discovery, examination and cross-examination, and record reconstruction, will have disappeared. The problems that will arise from such future lawsuits do not bode well for the administration of justice.
These considerations also cast deep doubts about the adequacy of the remedy the Court fashions for plaintiffs in this kind of case. The Court magnanimously rules that the statute o’f limitations and the single controversy doctrine will not bar any lawsuit for cancer damages against this defendant if plaintiff develops an asbestos-related cancer. According to the majority, “[b]y adopting the statute of limitations and the single controversy doctrines to the realities of toxic-tort cases we have ameliorated the potential unfairness of applying the reasonable probability standard to this type of litigation.” Ante at 144). However, the procedural and administrative obstacles that will encumber such a future lawsuit -will not only greatly burden *152the administration of justice, they will render plaintiffs remedy so problematic as to be illusory. I do not believe that the Court’s solution ameliorates the unfairness to these victims of asbestos exposure. It sweeps their legitimate claims for redress under a judicial carpet.
In my view, the majority’s solution of allowing the plaintiff to sue defendant later if he develops cancer is unfair and unjust and does not comport with broader notions of sound public policy. In light of current knowledge and experience, there is no valid reason why plaintiff’s enhanced risk of cancer should not be considered an element of a present injury caused by the defendant and to be compensated now. See Ayers v. Jackson Township, supra, 106 N.J. at 618 (Handler, J., dissenting). Due to this injury, plaintiff may have to alter his lifestyle to avoid cancer-causing agents that may be present in foods or the environment and atmosphere to prevent the likelihood of developing cancer. Plaintiff may also be prevented from obtaining certain jobs — such as in chemical factories — because his enhanced risk of cancer make him more vulnerable to other workplace injuries. In addition, his health and life insurance premiums will be greater because the insurance companies will charge plaintiff for his enhanced risk of developing cancer.
I return to the fairness and feasibility of permitting a current recovery for the present risk of cancer. It seems disingenuous, if not callous, to suggest that plaintiff’s risk of cancer is not palpable and serious — why quibble between probable and possible when it is agreed that the risk is significant? When the reality of this risk is confirmed by the fact that plaintiff is now required to submit to bi-annual cancer medical examinations and defendant is more than willing to pay for the cost of this medical surveillance? If the rest of the society treats plaintiff’s enhanced risk of cancer as a present injury, why should the courts deny its existence by denying its compensability? Plaintiff does not ask for damages for having cancer, he only wants to recover for the unusual risk to his health and life and the tangible and significant likelihood of developing cancer. He *153seeks only fair compensation, which a jury should be quite capable of assessing.
As I stated in Ayers v. Jackson Township, supra, 106 N.J. at 621:
The severe limitation of damages imposed by the Court in this case is inadequate and unfair. No person in her right mind would trade places with any one of these plaintiffs. Does this not suggest that a person would have to be paid a considerable sum of money, more than that permitted here by the Court, before tolerating the injuries suffered by these plaintiffs? Why should not a jury be permitted to make this determination?
There is little doubt that defendants clearly prefer the Court’s solution to this problem, namely, to allow the plaintiff or his survivors to sue at some date in the indefinite future if and when plaintiff gets cancer. I observed in concurring in Evers v. Dollinger, 95 N.J. 399, 422 (1984), that a defendant should not be permitted to escape responsibility for negligently increasing a plaintiff’s risk of cancer by hiding behind the “statistical uncertainty of the risk.”
I think the Court’s solution will allow defendants to escape liability in many, if not most, cases. See Ayers v. Jackson Township, supra, 106 N.J. at 619 (Handler, J., dissenting). Defendants may not ever have to pay the piper. Thus, if plaintiff develops cancer at some later date, then defendants may be liable for damages only if the plaintiff can prove causation. Proof of causation will be a very difficult burden for plaintiff since many genetic and environmental factors may affect or cause the development of cancer. Just because plaintiff can now prove that defendant’s conduct caused his pleural thickening and increased his risk of lung cancer, he still may not be able to prove that his lung cancer was caused by defendant’s asbestos ten or twenty years after his exposure. In addition, it will be extremely difficult to separate from any award damages previously recovered for such elements attributable to pre-existing disease, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and the like. Therefore, the majority solution of allowing plaintiff to bring a lawsuit against a defendant when the plaintiff develops cancer is one that will invariably be *154stacked against claimants rather than negligent defendants. Hence, it is doubtful that the Court’s approach will serve the deterrent and corrective purposes of our tort law. See, e.g., People Express Airlines, Inc. v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 100 N.J. 246 (1985). In short, I can think of almost no reason why defendants will not rejoice in the Court’s proposal.
We should, on balance, encourage plaintiffs to sue in current actions for all elements of a claim for relief consistent with the principles of comprehensiveness, finality, and repose that we invoke in determining and concluding litigation. These principles are reflected in the evolution of the entire controversy doctrine and statutes of limitations. See, respectively, e.g., Cogdell v. Hosp. Center at Orange, 116 N.J. 7 (1989); Crispin v. Volkswagenwerk, A.G., 96 N.J. 336 (1984); and Graves v. Church & Dwight Co., Inc., 115 N.J. 256 (1989). If a plaintiff were required, or permitted, to sue in a current action for the risk of future cancer, he or she would not have it both ways. Such a plaintiff should be barred from again asserting a claim for the disease even if it becomes manifest. The litigation should be put at rest.
In my opinion, Mr. Mauro, like the plaintiffs from Jackson Township, has a cognizable injury in the form of a palpable and serious risk of incurring cancer that should be compensated for now.
For affirmance — Justices CLIFFORD, POLLOCK, O’HERN, GARIBALDI and STEIN — 5.
Dissenting — Justice HANDLER — 1.