These are the first among a number of lawsuits being brought by workers and families of former workers, most of whom were employed in IBM's semiconductor and disk drive manufacturing processes.
According to Reuters, former IBM workers, James Moore and Alida Hernandez, who suffer non-Hodgkins lymphoma and breast cancer respectively, have been cleared to put their evidence to a jury.
The question of what IBM actually knew will be the most crucial one. The individuals are seeking damages not just to compensate the harm they suffered, but also to punish IBM – known as punitive damages. To win punitive damages, Californian law requires them to prove that IBM knew that the chemicals were affecting its employees and that IBM hid that knowledge.
IBM has flatly denied the claims. SiliconValley.com quotes IBM lawyer David DiMeglio:
"There is no evidence that IBM had actual knowledge that any of these people were suffering from chemical poisoning... We think their case is gutted, and we look forward to defending the remaining cases before the jury."