NC State wants Poe Hall lawsuit thrown out and handled through workers’ comp
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- NC State seeks dismissal, saying claims belong in Industrial Commission or Tort Act.
- Plaintiffs allege PCB exposure caused breast cancer and claim state constitutional harm.
- University says employees’ claims are workers’ comp; students’ claims fall under Tort Act.
NC State University wants the courts to dismiss a lawsuit from a group of people who contend they developed breast cancer while working or studying at Poe Hall, the building that once housed the university’s education department.
The 12 sickened people were employees and students at NC State, including three who died and whose estates are involved in the lawsuit. They claim that NC State knew, or should have known, that the chemicals used to construct the building — known as PCBs — could cause cancer, and chose not to act, ignoring evidence the building was contaminated. Instead, the school acted with “deliberate indifference,” the lawsuit argues, and each plaintiff developed breast cancer as a result.
Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are a group of harmful chemicals manufactured by Monsanto and banned in 1979 — eight years after Poe Hall was built. They are classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
The cancer-stricken group sued the university in Wake County Superior Court last month for allegedly violating their fundamental right to bodily integrity under the state constitution.
NC State contends the claims made in the lawsuit are not constitutional in nature, but are rather workers’ compensation claims — or in the case of former students, tort claims.
The plaintiffs are trying to dress up their workers’ compensation claims as constitutional claims in order to bypass NC State’s governmental immunity, the university says. As a government entity, the university generally cannot be sued for workers’ compensation claims.
Claiming a violation of one’s constitutional rights by a government entity is only an option when no others exist, and that’s not the case here, NC State contends. It says plaintiffs could have recourse under the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act or the State Tort Claims Act, which include “a limited waiver of NC State’s sovereign immunity.” Claims would then have to go through the state Industrial Commission, not the courts.
The university says that “any assertion that NC State’s alleged conduct rises to a constitutional level is not grounded in fact or law.” Should the plaintiffs continue to pursue this suit, the school says it reserves the right to invoke an anti-frivolous lawsuit rule that could allow NC State to seek to penalize the plaintiffs.
Workers comp claims
One such plaintiff is Sandy Alford. A former graduate student who studied adult education in Poe Hall, she developed breast cancer. She says this motion to dismiss is the latest in NC State’s strategy to “defer, deny, delay.”
“I never gave NC State my consent to be poisoned,” Alford told The News & Observer. “NCSU is a state actor. They act on behalf of the state, and as a result, they are legally bound to uphold the state of North Carolina’s constitution.
“It’s a legal and ethical obligation they have.”
Alford said NC State has used this tactic before in the long saga of Poe Hall: arguing that if PCBs from the building caused cancer, that is a workers’ compensation claim, not a constitutional one. She said the attorneys on the breast cancer case have already filed for workers’ compensation on her behalf and that of the other plaintiffs.
“If they think these are workers’ comp claims, they need to explain to me why the building isn’t encapsulated, wrapped up and sealed,” Alford said. “Ask them why they’re still subjecting people — faculty, staff, students and the public — that walk by those buildings every day, and they’re breathing in PCBs. If they were really worried about workers comp [or tort] claims, they’d be a little further along on their actions.”
In recent years, many former Poe Hall occupants who later developed cancer have come forward. Attorneys for this suit said they have more than 600 affected clients, with illnesses like breast cancer, neurological issues, childhood illnesses, reproductive issues and other conditions, and there are more lawsuits to come. A federal investigation of Poe Hall’s health hazards requested by NC State has resumed after it was halted due to reductions in the federal workforce, but results are not yet in.
NC State closed the building in 2023. The school is planning a massive remediation and renovation of Poe Hall, including removal of the HVAC system and all interior and exterior walls. The UNC System Board of Governors allocated more than $3 million for the project in 2024. Alford is also suing NC State about this, claiming that the Poe Hall remediation amounts to a destruction of evidence.
Both the university and the group of sick plaintiffs are suing Monsanto, the company that manufactured the harmful PCBs in the first place, in separate suits.
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 4:58 PM.
