How Civil Litigation Helped Build Safer Workplaces—and Why It Still Matters

The struggle for workers’ rights has never followed a straight or easy path. From the factories of the Industrial Revolution to modern workplaces grappling with toxic exposure and latent disease, progress usually only comes after harm has already occurred. At the most critical moments in this struggle, civil litigation has played a vital role – giving workers a voice when other systems fail, exposing corporate misconduct, and forcing changes that reshape entire industries for the better.

From industrial tragedy to legal accountability

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American workers labored in environments that were frequently dangerous, exhausting, and deadly. Long hours, unguarded machinery, and toxic substances were common, and legal doctrines such as “assumption of risk” and “contributory negligence” made it nearly impossible for injured workers to protect their rights and provide security to their families. When tragedies like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City shocked the public conscience, it revealed widespread disregard for dangerous working conditions and the absence of meaningful accountability to a mass audience.

March 25, 1911. One hundred forty six workers died—not solely because fire broke out—but because doors were locked, safety was ignored, and profit came first. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire became a turning point in the fight for workers’ rights.

Early labor reforms and the creation of workers’ compensation systems helped address some of these failures. But those systems were limited, particularly when injuries and illnesses stemmed from cumulative or concealed hazards. In such cases, civil litigation became one of the few tools capable of uncovering the truth and achieving justice for injured workers. Lawsuits compelled companies to produce internal documents, testify under oath, and confront evidence they had long kept from workers and regulators alike.

How civil litigation exposed hidden dangers and changed industries

Few areas of jurisprudence demonstrate this more clearly than asbestos litigation. For much of the twentieth century, workers in shipyards, garages, factories, railroads, mills, construction sites, and industrial plants were exposed to asbestos fibers while employers and manufacturers quietly accumulated medical evidence showing the material was deadly. It was not until lawyers began representing sick workers and their families that this knowledge was made public. Those cases did more than secure compensation for working families; they fundamentally changed how workplace safety was understood and regulated – saving countless future workers from suffering injuries and disease in the workplace.

Motley Rice lawyers emerged as central figures in that history. Beginning in the 1970s, firm co‑founder Ron Motley helped uncover internal company documents (Sumner Simpson Papers) showing that asbestos manufacturers had long known of the health risks associated with their products. His work against Johns‑Manville – once the world’s largest asbestos company – contributed to the creation of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, a model that has since shaped how mass occupational disease claims are handled. That litigation exposed what has often been described as one of the largest corporate cover‑ups in U.S. history and accelerated regulatory and industry‑wide change.

What was hidden becomes public record. Litigation uncovers the truth—one document, one testimony, one case at a time.

The firm’s work on behalf of workers isn’t limited by geography. In South Africa, Motley Rice consulted with workers’ lawyers and in doing so played a key role in helping secure the first‑ever class action settlement for gold mine workers harmed by silica dust exposure. For decades, miners suffered from silicosis and other fatal lung diseases with little recourse. The settlement marked a historic acknowledgment of responsibility and demonstrated how plaintiffs’ litigation can advance workers’ rights even in countries where legal systems have long favored powerful industrial interests.

Why litigation still matters for today’s workers

Today, many of the most serious risks facing workers involve toxic chemicals whose dangers are not immediately apparent. Firefighters, for example, have raised alarms about PFAS “forever chemicals” in protective gear and firefighting foam – substances now linked to serious illnesses. Motley Rice has represented firefighters and their unions in litigation seeking accountability from manufacturers and advocating for safer standards, continuing the tradition of using the civil justice system to protect those who protect others.

Across all of these cases, a common theme emerges: civil litigation is not only about compensation after harm occurs; it is about uncovering information, exposing negligence, and forcing powerful actors to reckon with the consequences of their decisions to place profits over people. When companies know that unsafe practices can lead to public trials, massive liability, and lasting reputational damage, safety becomes more than an abstract obligation – it becomes a business imperative.

More than a century after the first major labor reforms, workers still face serious risks on the job. But history shows that meaningful progress often begins when workers (or their loved ones) are able to stand up in court and demand accountability. Civil litigation has been, and remains, one of the most effective tools in the ongoing fight for safer workplaces.