Asbestos on a Remodaling Job

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Arkansas
My boss started a project for a customer of his remodaling business, but found that the house had asbestos in it. Does he have a case to get out of the contract and keep the advance, considering the the homeowner did not disclose to my boss that there was asbestos in the house? And my boss was potentialy exposed to harmful asbestos fibers when he had to knock down the wall where the asbestos was found?
Any information would be helpful.

cbrock619 said:

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Arkansas
My boss started a project for a customer of his remodaling business, but found that the house had asbestos in it. Does he have a case to get out of the contract and keep the advance, considering the the homeowner did not disclose to my boss that there was asbestos in the house? And my boss was potentialy exposed to harmful asbestos fibers when he had to knock down the wall where the asbestos was found?
Any information would be helpful.

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I agree he probably can get out of the contract, and should be paid for his work, but why should he also get to keep the advance for work he didn't do?
As far as failure to disclose, maybe he would have some type of claim...of course asbestos health-related problems will happen many, many years down the road. I think it would be hard to make a claim based on a theory that 30 years down the road he might get meso. Too speculative. Without a specific identifiable injury, you probably won't get too far.

Aren't you assuming anyway that the homeowner knew he had asbestos in the house? It would seem that between the homeowner and your boss, it is your boss who has the sophistication and knowledge to identify asbestos. In fact, wouldn't that always be something a remodeler would look for when doing a job? FYI, if he doesn't mention the possibility of finding asbestos and what to do if it is discovered in his contracts, then he should add it.