US Supreme Court allows asbestos anxiety claims
Last Updated: 2003-03-10 13:00:30 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that ill railway workers can recover damages for fear of developing asbestos-related cancer, in its latest decision arising from the asbestos litigation crisis.
"We hold that a railroad worker suffering from asbestosis can recover for the heightened anxiety he experiences because of his vulnerability to a more dread disease," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said for the majority in interpreting the Federal Employers' Liability Act.
In summarizing her ruling from the bench, she said the worker still has the burden to prove the asserted fear was genuine and serious.
The 5-4 decision was a defeat for Norfolk Southern Corp., which had challenged a $5.8 million jury award in West Virginia to six retired railway workers with asbestosis, a potentially deadly lung disease.
The Supreme Court in a 1997 ruling referred to the asbestos litigation crisis. Since then, more lawsuits have been filed, and a recent study found that asbestos-related claims have been brought in the United States against 6,000 defendants seeking more than $200 billion in damages.
Asbestos was widely used for fireproofing and insulation until the 1970s when scientists concluded that inhaled fibers could be linked to cancer and other diseases.
The ever-increasing number of personal injury lawsuits has cost more than $54 billion in settlements and has driven more than 60 U.S. companies into bankruptcy.
The six workers in their lawsuit claimed the railroad failed to provide them with a reasonably safe workplace because of their exposure to asbestos. They sought damages for emotional stress.
Norfolk Southern said more than 5,500 cases involving railroad asbestos claims were pending in West Virginia.
The railroad argued the workers may not recover damages because they did not present any evidence of physical manifestation or other corroboration of injury related to their alleged fear of cancer.
The high court rejected the arguments by the railroad and by the U.S. Justice Department, which supported the company's position.
Ginsburg said the trial judge in the case correctly stated the law when he told the jury that an asbestos claimant, upon demonstrating a reasonable fear of cancer stemming from his present disease, could recover for that fear as part of the pain and suffering damages.
Dissenting on that part of the ruling were Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer.
The court ruled unanimously on a second question presented in the case.
Ginsburg said a worker can recover the entire damages from a railroad whose negligence jointly caused an injury, placing the burden on the railroad in seeking contributions from others who potentially may have caused the injury.
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