Landmark Asbestos Ruling in Slovenia
On June 24, 2025, the Constitutional Court of Slovenia handed down a historic verdict upholding the successor right of relatives to bring a legal action for the asbestos death of a family member. According to the Court, the previous position which barred them from doing so – as laid out in the Act on Remedying the Consequences of Work with Asbestos – was unconstitutional. As a direct consequence of this ruling the National Assembly must adopt measures implementing this policy reversal within one year. In the meantime, heirs of deceased victims whose asbestos-related diseases had been medically recognized may submit compensation claims.1
Central to the case advanced by the claimants’ lawyers at the Constitutional Court was an argument about equality before the law; denying these plaintiffs the right to bring an “inherited” action for non-pecuniary damages deprived them, their lawyers said, of a right enjoyed by the heirs of beneficiaries who had initiated compensation proceedings before the Interdepartmental Commission for Remedying the Consequences of Work with Asbestos prior to death. The Court agreed that it was, indeed, the duty of the legislature to treat both groups of heirs in an equal manner.
The nature of asbestos-related diseases makes a complex legal situation even more so due to the long lapse between asbestos exposures and the manifestation of diseases, up to 50 years in some cases, and the difficulty in diagnosing many asbestos-related diseases. Bringing clarity and fairness to the litigants, the Court was adamant: the heirs of claimants who died whilst in the process of obtaining a medical opinion or after obtaining a diagnosis but before filing a compensation claim with the Commission had the same rights as those whose relatives had submitted a compensation claim supported by a medical opinion. Considering how the current compensation process functioned, with all its delays and requirements, the Court once again sided with the plaintiffs finding that the bureaucratic process resulted in “unpredictable and random circumstances… over which neither the injured party nor their heirs can exert significant influence.”2
Commenting on the Constitutional Court's ruling Dr. Metoda Dodiè Fikfak, one of Slovenia's foremost asbestos researchers, said:
“The decision is an acknowledgment of the injustice experienced by many of our citizens who contract asbestos-related diseases. A diagnosis of asbestos cancer is devastating for the patient and his/her whole family. With all the trauma this brings, it is understandable that progressing a legal claim is rarely a high priority. Depriving these potential claimants of their legal rights prolongs their sense of disenfranchisement and marginalization. Under the new legal regime, one can but hope that they will be able to obtain official recognition of the harm that was done to their loved one and the compensation they are due .”3
July 4, 2025
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1 Slovenian Ministry of Health. Ustavno sodišče: Neupravičenost dedičev do odškodnine zaradi izpostavljenosti azbestu je neustavna [Constitutional Court: Heirs' ineligibility for compensation for exposure to asbestos is unconstitutional]. June 24, 2025.
https://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/ustavno-sodisce-neupravicenost-dedicev-do-odskodnine-zaradi-izpostavljenosti-azbestu-je-neustavna/750025
2 ibid.
3 Email from Dr. Metoda Dodiè Fikfak. July 3, 2025.
