Following Long Legal Battle, Louisiana Mesothelioma Victim Wins Right to Pursue Claim Against Asbestos Company
When Ronald Barosse was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, he chose not to file a claim under the Louisiana State’s Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act: rather he filed a personal injury lawsuit against the successor to his previous employer. That company argued against his ability to do so, and this led to a long legal fight which was eventually resolved by the U.S. Fifth Circuit. That court noted that his case represented a rare exception to the requirement that such claims be filed as workers’ compensation.
Mesothelioma Victim’s Claim Traveled Long Legal Journey
Mr. Barosse blamed his malignant mesothelioma on asbestos he was exposed to between February 1969 and June 1977, when he worked at the Avondale Shipyard. He filed suit against the company’s successor, Huntington Ingalls, Inc., which immediately filed to have the case dismissed because it was in conflict with the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA.) The company successfully argued that the LHWCA was instituted to provide compensation for all longshore and harbor workers in the state, and that it specifically prohibited those workers from filing personal injury claims for workplace injuries.
Mr. Barosse believed that he had a right to file his mesothelioma personal injury claim, so he appealed the trial court’s decision to the District Court, and when he lost his appeal he further appealed to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court. That is where the merit of his argument was fully recognized and his efforts at justice rewarded.
Fifth Circuit Agrees with Mesothelioma Victim About His Right to File a Personal Injury Claim
Though the U.S. Fifth Circuit noted that the LHWCA’s original intent was to offer injured workers compensation while preventing personal injury claims from being filed against their employers, they also noted that the mesothelioma victim’s claim fell into a unique time period and category. They found that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1942 that the LHWCSA did not expressly preempt state tort claims, and that the explicit prohibition against them did not exist until the law was modified in 1975. As a result, they ruled that Mr. Barosse fell into a unique category of victims: because his exposure occurred prior to 1975, he was able to file his personal injury suit. His case can finally be presented to a jury.
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