A judge in Palm Beach County allowed an individual plaintiff to proceed with a claim linking cancer to Chinese-sourced drywall, despite defense arguments that ongoing multidistrict litigation, or MDL, barred the suit.

Circuit Judge Meenu Sasser granted partial summary judgment to Paul Wilkis, a cancer patient who claimed his work supervising drywall removal at The Whitney, a plush residential building in downtown West Palm Beach, caused the disease. She rejected defense arguments that Wilkis was a member of the plaintiff class in the MDL, which precluded him from filing a separate suit in state court.

Now it will be up to Palm Beach County jurors to decide whether companies involved in handling drywall from The Whitney put Wilkis in harm's way.