Olson v. Federal American Partners

Ralph Olson was an underground uranium miner who worked for Continental Uranium Company (Continental) for roughly 12 years. Olson then worked for Federal American Partners (Federal) (defendant) for six months, for Continental again for three months, and then for Federal again for nearly a year. Olson became sick during his second employment with Federal, and he subsequently died of lung cancer. Olson’s dependents (plaintiffs) sought compensation from Federal under Wyoming’s Occupational Disease Law, alleging that Olson’s lung cancer was caused by occupational radiation exposure. The dependents alleged that Olson had last been injuriously exposed to radiation at Federal, which made Federal liable under the Wyoming statute. Federal produced evidence that the radiation levels to which Federal’s miners were exposed were within permissible limits set by the federal government. Federal also asserted that there was no certainty that Olson, a habitual cigarette smoker, had developed lung cancer due to his employment. At trial, Olson’s dependents presented expert testimony about the high incidence of lung cancer in uranium miners due to radiation exposure. The dependents’ expert testimony also indicated that miners who smoked had a greater incidence of lung cancer than nonsmoking miners because tobacco could either cause or promote the development of cancer. The expert admitted that he could not be medically certain that Olson’s death was caused solely by radiation exposure, but he testified that the lung cancer most probably resulted from radiation exposure. The expert further testified that exposure to radiation within permissible limits would not be injurious exposure that would contribute to or promote the development of cancer. The trial court denied the dependents’ claim, holding that the dependents had not established by a preponderance of the evidence that Olson’s cancer was causally connected to Olson’s employment at Federal. The dependents appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court.