I. BACKGROUND
This case raises the yet unaddressed issue in Pennsylvania appellate jurisprudence of whether, under Pennsylvania law, an employer and premises owner owes a duty to a spouse of an employee to protect against, or warn her of, the hazards of exposure to asbestos fibers allegedly transmitted at the employer’s premises and carried into her home by her husband (hereinafter “take-home exposure”).
Plaintiff Marilyn Gillen (“Plaintiff’ or “Mrs. Gillen”) asserts the she developed mesothelioma as a result of her exposure to asbestos. Mrs. Gillen worked as a secretary at the Boeing Vertol facility in Rid-ley Park, Pennsylvania from 1966 to 2005 (“Boeing” or “Defendant”). Plaintiff alleges that she was exposed to asbestos while working at Boeing when Defendant conducted various asbestos abatement projects within her proximity. Mrs. Gillen’s husband, Hugh Gillen (“Mr. Gillen”), also worked at the Boeing Vertol facility. Mr. Gillen worked as a machinist from 1966 to 1970 and 1973 to 2005. Plaintiff also alleges that she was exposed to asbestos when she laundered her husband’s clothes in her home. Plaintiff asserts that Mr. Gillen’s clothes contained dust from asbestos products and materials that he worked with at Boeing. It is this claim relating to take-home exposure due to Mrs. Gillen’s laundering of Mr. Gillen’s work clothing in her home, and not her claim relating to her exposure while working as a secretary at Boeing, that is currently at issue.
Defendant Boeing moves to dismiss Plaintiffs “Household Exposure” (take-home exposure) claim. See Compl. ¶¶ 29-34. Defendant asserts that Plaintiff cannot maintain a viable take-home exposure cause of action against Boeing under Pennsylvania law. For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant Boeing’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs take-home exposure claim.
II. LEGAL STANDARD
A party may move to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. FedR.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). When considering such a motion, the Court must “accept as true all allegations in the complaint and all reasonable inferences that can be drawn therefrom, and view them in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.” DeBenedictis v. Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.,
The pleadings must contain sufficient factual allegations so as to state a facially plausible, claim for relief. See, e.g., Gelman v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.,
III. DISCUSSION
The parties agree that Plaintiffs claim for take-home exposure to asbestos sounds in negligence.
.(1) a duty or obligation recognized by the law requiring the defendant to conform to a certain standard of conduct for the protection of others against unreasonable risks;
(2) defendant’s failure to conform to the standard required;
(3) a causal connection between the conduct and the resulting injury;
(4) actual loss or damage resulting to the plaintiff.
R.W. v. Manzek,
As both sides have indicated, there is no authority from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, or any Pennsylvania appel
Under Pennsylvania law, the concept of duty in a negligence case is “rooted in public policy.” Manzek,
[T]he determination of whether a duty exists in a particular case involves the weighing of several discrete factors which include: (1) the relationship between the parties; (2) the social utility of the actor’s conduct; (3) the nature of the risk imposed and foreseeability of the harm incurred; (4) the consequences of imposing a duty upon the actor; and (5) the overall public interest in the proposed solution.
Recently, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court cautioned that it “would not direct the substantive common law away from well-established general norms in the absence of some clear predominance of policy justifications.” Lance v. Wyeth,
A. The Relationship between the Parties
The relationship between the parties t in this case is typical of most take-home exposure cases. Here, Mrs. Gillen asserts that she was exposed to asbestоs from laundering the clothes of her husband, an employee of Boeing, who was allegedly exposed to asbestos while working on Boeing’s premises. Accordingly, Mrs. Gillen’s relationship with Defendant Boeing as it relates to her take-home exposure claim is essentially that of “legal strangers” under the law of negligence. See Riedel v. ICI Americas Inc.,
B. The Social Utility of the Actor’s Conduct
The social utility of Boeing’s conduct does not weigh for or against the imposition of a duty. Boeing’s business activities are lawful and provide a useful service for its shareholders, employees, and customers. While of course, over the years, the use of asbestos has had a harmful health effect on many, its use has been substantially regulated and replaced by other products since the early 1970s. Therefore, this factor is equipoise in this case.
C. The Nature of the Risk Imposed and Foreseeability of the Harm Incurred
“[D]uty arises only when one engages in conduct which foreseeably creates an unreasonable risk of harm to others.” Manzek,
Moreover, even if Plaintiff was deemed a foreseeable third party, foreseeability “is not alone determinative of the duty question,” and “is not necessarily a dominant factor” in the duty assessment under Pennsylvania law. Seebold,
D. The Consequences of Imposing a Duty upon the Actor
The consequences of imposing a duty in situations of take-homе exposure weigh heavily against imposing a duty on Defendant Boeing. As other courts have recognized, without a limiting‘principle, liability for take-home exposure would essentially be infinite. See In re Asbestos Litig. (Lillian Riedel), No. 04C07-099-ASB,
Yes, one can reason in so many instances that an extension of liability is merely a small step flowing naturally and logically from the existing case law. Yet each seemingly small step, over time, leads to an ever proliferating number of small steps that add up to huge leaps in terms of extension of liability. At some point it must stop....
Witthoeft,
E. The Overall Public Interest in the Proposed Solution
In analyzing the public interest, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania has looked at other court’s decisions in different jurisdictions as persuasive authority as to where the public interest lies. See Commerce Bank,
Nor have lower federal and state courts applying Pennsylvania law found the existence of a duty under the circumstances of this case. See Jesensky v. A-Best Prods. Co., No. 96-680,
Finally, Plaintiff points to no relevant Pennsylvania precedent or doctrine that is offended by this trend. The cases from other jurisdictions cited by Mrs. Gillen that have arguably reached the opposite conclusion are not persuasive. First, Kes-ner v. Superior Court of Alameda County,
F. Weighing the Althaus Factors
The Court concludes that the Althaus factors do not counsel in favor of imposing a duty on Defendant Boeing to Mrs. Gillen. See Phillips v. Cricket Lighters,
IV. CONCLUSION
For all of the reasons stated above, the Court concludes that Boeing owed no duty to Mrs. Gillen regarding her claim for “take-home exposure” to asbestos. Accordingly, Boeing’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs claim for take-home exposure will be granted. An appropriate order follows.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 26th day of August, 2014, for the reasons set forth in the accompanying Memorandum Opinion, it is hereby ORDERED that Defendant Boeing’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs claim for “take-home exposure” (ECF No. 100) is GRANTED.
AND IT IS SO ORDERED.
Notes
. In its papers, Defendant also moved to dismiss Plaintiff's claims on two other- grounds: (1) Plaintiff failed to identify any defective product attributable to Boeing to which she alleged exposure; and (2) Plaintiff's prior pleadings constituted a judicial admission that she was not exposed to asbestos through her employmеnt at Boeing. At oral argument, Defendant stated that its first argument was essentially moot after discovery had progressed. As to its second argument, Defendant stated that it was more appropriate for the Court to address at the summary judgment stage. Therefore, the Court considers each of these arguments withdrawn.
. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted a Petition for Allowance of Appeal in Tincher v. Omega Flex, Inc.,
. Defendant Boeing removed the instant case to federal court pursuant to the federal officer removal statute. 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1). The parties agree, however, that Pennsylvania law applies to Plaintiff’s claim for take-home exposure to asbestos.
.The parties refer to the legal obligation allegedly owed by Boеing to Mrs. Gillen in this case as a "duty.” Neither party precisely identifies the scope or contours of such a duty. In her complaint, Plaintiff states that Boeing:
a. Failed to warn Hugh Gillen and Marilyn Gillen regarding the hazards involved in laundering clothing after working with and in close proximity to asbestos containing products on a regular and frequent basis;
b. Failed to provide lockers, a shower or other facilitiеs such that Plaintiff's husband, or other similarly situated people, could properly change their clothes and clean from their bodies the asbestos dust and fibers they were exposed to[.]
Compl. ¶ 33. Given that the Court finds no duty is owed, we need not define the scope or contours of the alleged duty.
. See also Cafazzo v. Central Med. Health Servs., Inc.,
. "Generally, our Courts have been reluctant to impose a duty to protect a member of the general public from the harmful acts of third parties, in the absence of special circumstances.” Commerce Bank/Pennsylvania v. First Union Nat'l Bank,
. States that place an emрhasis on the relationship between the parties generally hold that no duty exists in take-home exposure cases. See Van Fossen v. MidAmerican Energy Co.,
. That asbestos can be harmful to one’s health has beеn known for some time.
. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that "[djespite knowledge of the dangers of exposure to asbestos, and knowledge that asbestos fibers from Defendants!’] products would be carried home on the clothing of Plaintiff’s husband” Defendant, inter alia, failed to warn or take measures to protect Mrs. Gillen. See Compl. ¶ 33. Plaintiff does not allege, for example, that Boeing knew, or should have known, that Mrs. Gillen would be exposed to friable asbestos thrоugh the laundering of her husband’s work clothing.
. Plaintiff suggests that the Court could limit its ruling to only “known” household members; however, in doing so the Court would likely be inviting the proliferation of "huge leaps” that the court in Emerich cautioned against. Moreover, if establishing a duty to take-home exposure plaintiffs is sound public policy, limiting this duty to only “known”
. The California Supreme Court recently granted a petition for review of the appellate . court’s decision in Kesner. Kesner v. S.C. (Pneumo Abex LLC),
. Recently, the Honorable Judges C. Darnell Jones, II and Jeffrey L. Schmehl have both noted that the recognition of a take-home exposure duty in New Jersey is a narrow one and is tied restrictively to the facts of the casе. See Schwartz v. Accuratus Corp., No. 12-06189, ECF No. 35 (denying the plaintiff's motion to remand and noting that the plaintiff's argument "would stretch the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision in Olivo beyond its tensile strength”) (E.D.Pa. Mar. 1, 2013) (Jones, J.); Schwartz v. Accuratus Corp., No. 12-06189,
. Defendant also moved to dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint on two other grounds; however, these arguments were effectively withdrawn at the hearing on the instant motion and were not considered by the Court.
