Tire plant worker death suit bringing Alabama law into question

By Brian Cole

Published on March 09, 2006

Brenda Sue Sanford filed the case in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court. The suit alleges that the death of her husband, David Wayne Griffin, 61, was work related and the Alabama statute of limitations on injuries caused by exposure to hazardous materials violates workers rights. Griffin died of a form of leukemia that is commonly associated with exposure to Benzene.

Griffin was employed with BF Goodrich Tire Manufacturing for twenty years but the company is not named in the suit. Instead, 20 oil and chemical companies from a number of different states are named as defendants, as is the Alabama Attorney General, Troy King. King is named as a defendant because the constitutionality of a state law is being challenged.

Sanford says the two year statute of limitations is unconstitutional and violates the rights of workers like her husband because diseases caused by hazardous material exposure can take years to manifest.

Alabama law also restricts hazardous material cases from being filed until the person becomes ill or dies.

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