Walston v. Boeing

Case Updates

The court ruled that Walston has not shown that Boeing deliberately intended to injure him and cannot pursue a claim outside of the workers' compensation system. The Court of Appeals ruling was affirmed and the case was remanded for an entry of an order granting summary judgement to Boeing.

The U.S. Chamber and a large coalition of business groups urged the Washington Supreme Court to clarify that a Washington employer may not be held liable in tort for post-exposure, asymptomatic, subcellular changes reflecting an increased risk of disease under the “deliberate intention to injure” exception to Washington’s workers’ compensation law, the Industrial Insurance Act (“IIA”). According to the Chamber’s amicus brief in this asbestos case, in Washington, the IIA provides the exclusive remedy for workplace injuries, absent a showing of an intent to injure, which the plaintiffs failed to satisfy in this case. The plaintiffs’ efforts to circumvent the IIA, if adopted by the Court, would be a radical departure and would turn Washington courts into magnets for asbestos and other tort lawsuits.

Mark A. Behrens, Cary Silverman and D. Barley Eppenauer of Shook Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as co-counsel to the Chamber Litigation Center in this case.