Illinois: Children Born with Birth Defects Could Maintain Tort Action Against Fathers' Employer for Alleged Exposure to Toxic Chemicals

Plaintiffs, who alleged that they were born with severe birth defects that had been (a) sustained in utero and (b) caused by their fathers' exposure to toxic chemical products during their fathers’ employment with the defendant, stated valid claims for negligence and willful and wanton misconduct under both Arizona and Texas law and the claims for loss of child consortium under Arizona law were sufficiently pled to withstand a 735 ILCS 5/2-615 motion to dismiss. The appellate court indicated that, based on the language of the states' workers' compensation statutes, Arizona and Texas courts would adopt the principle that their respective exclusive remedy provisions do not bar family members who are separately and independently injured by the employer's negligence from bringing a claim.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Ledeaux v. Motorola Inc., 2018 IL App (1st) 161345, 2018 Ill. App. LEXIS 71 (Feb. 20, 2018)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 101.02.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law