## Facts

- Jaquays operated an asbestos mill and maintained an asbestos tailings pile on land in Gila County, Arizona.
- The City of Globe approved a mobile-home subdivision, Mountain View Mobile Home Estates, on adjacent land, where plaintiffs lived at various times.
- Airborne asbestos fibers were blown from the mill and tailings pile into the mobile-home park.
- Residents learned in 1979 that asbestos exposure was dangerous; the governor declared the park a disaster area in December 1979.
- Cleanup and relocation efforts occurred over several years; the asbestos hazard was ultimately contained in September 1985.
- Plaintiffs alleged asbestos fibers in their lungs, subclinical lung-tissue changes, and an increased risk of developing asbestos-related disease, but no present diagnosable asbestos-related illness.
- Plaintiffs sought damages under negligence, gross negligence, strict liability, and nuisance theories for personal injury and property damage, including increased risk of disease, lifelong medical surveillance, and emotional distress from fear of future disease.

## Issues

1. Whether subclinical asbestos-related changes (fibers in lungs and tissue changes without present diagnosable disease) satisfy the “actual loss or damage” element required for personal-injury tort claims under Arizona law.
2. Whether, absent present diagnosable disease or objectively verifiable physical injury, plaintiffs may recover damages for (a) increased risk of future disease, (b) medical monitoring, and (c) emotional distress based on fear of future disease.
3. Whether asbestos contamination can support a property-damage claim distinct from personal-injury claims.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for defendants on plaintiffs’ personal-injury-related claims.
- Subclinical asbestos-related findings without present clinical disease did not constitute the “actual loss or damage” necessary to maintain personal-injury claims.
- Claims for increased risk of future disease and medical-monitoring costs were not recoverable absent present compensable injury.
- Emotional distress based on fear of developing disease was not recoverable without a qualifying present physical injury; transitory physical manifestations of distress were insufficient.
- The property-damage claim the trial court allowed to proceed against Jaquays was left undisturbed.

## Legal Principles

- Arizona personal-injury tort claims (including negligence and strict liability) require actual, present injury or damage; exposure and speculative future harm alone are insufficient.
- Subclinical bodily changes from toxic exposure, without symptoms or diagnosable disease, do not satisfy the damages element for personal-injury recovery.
- Increased risk of future disease is not compensable as a stand-alone item of damages absent present injury.
- Medical monitoring is not recoverable as a separate remedy when the plaintiff cannot show present compensable physical injury.
- Emotional distress based on fear of future disease generally requires demonstrable present physical injury; minor or short-lived physical effects associated with distress do not meet that requirement.
- Property contamination may be treated as a distinct form of harm from personal injury.

## Conclusion

The court held that exposure to asbestos resulting only in subclinical lung findings and fear of future disease does not constitute compensable personal injury under Arizona law, and it affirmed summary judgment rejecting claims for increased risk, medical monitoring, and emotional distress absent present diagnosable injury, while leaving a property-damage theory to proceed.


Burns v. Jaquays Mining Corp., 156 Ariz. 375, 752 P.2d 28 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1988)