Georgia-Pacific Workers Take Concerns to Compensation Commission

November 14, 2006 - A large group of current and former workers at a resin plant in Crossett, Arkansas, owned by the Georgia-Pacific Company, were told by an Arkansas High Court that they should take their concerns about asbestos to the state-run Workers’ Compensation Commission.

KTHV-TV reports that an Ashley County Circuit Court previously ruled it had jurisdiction over the case and determining whether the employees could make a claim against Georgia-Pacific under the workers' compensation act. However, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, saying the state Workers' Compensation Commission had "exclusive, original jurisdiction" over the matter.

Other issues in the case still remain with the circuit court, the report noted, and the group of past and present employees has also sued a gasket company who used asbestos in their products.

Georgia-Pacific Company has been at the center of many asbestos-related lawsuits.  Just last year, a Texas man was awarded more than $9 million in a suit against the company, claiming that he and his father were sickened when working with a joint compound which contained asbestos that was manufactured by the Atlanta-based company.  Thus far, Georgia-Pacific has paid out more than $200 million in asbestos claims.