Reading Room

Johnson & Johnson continues to be hit with verdicts in cancer cases from exposure to its baby powder containing talc. A Federal court of appeals advanced the cases against Johnson & Johnson by dismissing a petition for bankruptcy that was being utilized to avoid payment of its legal liabilities.

The International  Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO) classified diesel engine exhaust as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), based on sufficient evidence that exposure is associated with an increased risk for lung cancer. 

For the last few decades, the most compelling issue in an occupational disease case has been how the workers’ compensation court should determine the admissibility of scientific evidence. The New Jersey Supreme Court recently established guidelines for the admission and reliance upon such proof.

How to put together the puzzle of proof in an occupational disease claim.

The United States Supreme Court ruled that damages can be awarded to an individual for fear of contracting cancer due to exposure to asbestos fiber at work.

The New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Act [WCA] provides for the awarding of benefits to those individuals who have contracted an illness as a result of their exposure to toxic substances at work.

 "The Cold War Compensation Act" is the first federal workers' compensation program to be implemented in the last twenty years. The benefit program that will be offered to beryllium workers amounts to a federal bailout of a monopolistic private industry that has hidden behind the cloak of national security and has endangered the lives of workers, their household contacts and innocent bystanders. 

Families of asbestos workers who have direct asbestos exposure have been implicated in various diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis.