Last Injurious Exposure Rule

The last injurious exposure rule is a workers' compensation rule for occupational diseases that places the whole liability on the last employer, or its insurer, where the worker was exposed to the harmful substance. It avoids the need to divide responsibility among every employer a worker had.

Origin

State courts and legislatures developed the rule for diseases such as silicosis and asbestosis that build up over years of exposure at different jobs. Many states follow some version, and under the federal Longshore Act a similar rule is associated with the 1955 Travelers Insurance Co. v. Cardillo decision.

Significance in Asbestos Context

An asbestos worker often had many employers over a career, and the disease may appear decades later. The rule tells the compensation system which employer and insurer pay: typically the last one where there was exposure to asbestos that could have contributed to the disease, even if earlier jobs involved much heavier exposure. States differ on details, such as how long the last exposure must have lasted, whether it must actually have contributed to the disease, and whether the last employer can seek a share from earlier ones. The rule can raise practical problems when the last employer has closed, its insurer cannot be found, or the exposure there was brief. It applies only to compensation claims against employers; lawsuits against product makers and trust claims look at all exposures, not just the last one. Finding the right compensation carrier for an exposure that ended in the 1970s or 1980s can take real records work.

Example Sentence

Under the last injurious exposure rule, the insurer for the small boiler contractor he worked for last was responsible for his asbestosis benefits, even though he spent most of his career in a shipyard.

Related Terms

Workers’ Compensation, Occupational Disease Act, Exclusive Remedy, Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), Occupational Disease, Work History

Notes

• Write out your full work history with dates, including the last job where you worked around asbestos, however briefly.
• Old union, Social Security and pension records can help confirm employers and dates.