Personal Injury Law

Asbestos Lawsuit Settlement with Smithsonian Sheds Light on a National Workplace Cancer

The Smithsonian settled an asbestos lawsuit with a former employee for $233,000 and health insurance after the museum?s worker was diagnosed last year with asbestosis. The employee, Richard Pullman, 54, worked for 28 years at the museum, installing exhibits. This required drilling and sawing interior walls containing asbestos, a risk Pullman and other workers were first made aware of in 2008.

A Smithsonian spokeswoman has said that the settlement is not an admission of guilt, an odd statement given that Mr. Pullman has worked the majority of his life at the National Air and Space Museum and that inhaling asbestos, speaking realistically, the only cause of asbestosis.

Initially, Mr. Pullman was denied a worker's compensation coverage claim for asbestosis, though he would win on appeal. He is now allowed worker's compensation for treatment of asbestosis-related injury and benefits if he becomes disabled or dies from the disease.

Full post as published by Tennessee Law Blog on December 10, 2009 (boomark / email).