Asbestos Cancer

... Supreme Court: Employer Partly Liable For Health Damage Supreme Court: Employer Partly Liable For Health Damage THE HAGUE, 01/04/06 - An employer is partially liable for damage to the health of an employee that can be caused by the work and by the employee's own actions.

The ruling came from the Supreme Court Friday in a case on a smoker who was for years exposed to asbestos at work.

The man was exposed to asbestos dust at his work from 1964 to 1979.

In 1997, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

He died in 2000.

His employer disputed liability for the health damage.

The man had smoked for 28 years.

In 2002, a judge in Almelo ruled the employer was 55 percent liable for the health damage suffered.

The court based this partly on an expert who concluded that there was a 55 percent chance of getting lung cancer from exposure to asbestos dust.

The expert added that it cannot be determined medically if a certain case of lung cancer is caused by asbestos.

On appeal, the appeal court in Arnhem upheld this verdict.

The Supreme Court also upheld the verdict Friday, making it definitive.

If an employee has suffered damage that could be caused both by the employer failing to provide sufficient protection against substances that are damaging to health, and by actions for which the employer is responsible, the court can hold the employer liable for part of the damage, the verdict says.

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