Carter Roy

He brings it to the Illinois Industrial Commission.

He argues that even though the poisoning happened before the law was changed and the statute of limitations has passed,

The radium is still in the women's bodies.

It's still damaging them every single day.

The statute timer in Illinois starts when the injury occurs.

But if the injury is ongoing, how can the statute have expired?

It works.

The commission agrees to hear the case.

By now, Catherine is dying.

She weighs less than 60 pounds.

During one session, when a doctor testifies that her condition is fatal, Catherine collapses.

She has to be carried from the room.

So the commission does something unprecedented.

They continue the trial at her bedside.

Picture it.

A dying woman lying on her couch in her modest house.

Lawyers, an arbitrator, her family, all crowded into her living room.

Catherine holding up pieces of her own jawbone that have fallen out.

On April 5th, 1938, the commission rules that

in catherine's favor she's awarded back pay medical expenses and an annual pension of 277 for the rest of her life the radium dial company fights back they appeal to the illinois courts and when that doesn't work they appeal to the u.s supreme court they lose every single time