Appeals Court Says Workers' Comp Remedy Precludes $4.4 Million Asbestos Award

ATLANTA - Citing the exclusive remedy of the state's Workers' Compensation Act, a Georgia Court of Appeals has vacated a more than $4 million judgment in favor of a woman who claimed she was exposed to asbestos dust while working at a Kellogg food factory. Kellogg Company v. Rosemary Pinkston, et al., No. A01A1789 (Ga. Ct. App.).

The court said in its Dec. 11 decision that the award must be thrown out because it was granted by a state court magistrate without proper subject jurisdiction. The plaintiff, according to the appeals court, was barred from bringing the common law tort …