The "Two-Disease Rule" For Asbestos Related Claims in Pennsylvania

The "Two-Disease Rule" For Asbestos Related Claims in Pennsylvania

In 1984 Kenneth Abrams was diagnosed with a nonmalignant asbestos related disease. In 1985 John Straw also had the same diagnosis. After being diagnosed, both men sued a number of companies that manufactured the asbestos-containing materials that they were exposed to at their jobs.The two men were seeking damages for having an increased risk of contracting cancer. In 1993 they settled the suit. Then, in 2002, both Mr. Abrams and Mr. Straw were diagnosed with lung cancer. Eventually they died from the disease.Before they died they sued the same companies they had previously sued and added another company to the list - John Crane Inc. - which wasn't a party in the earlier lawsuit. The cancer victims alleged that the products that contained asbestos that was manufactured by the defendants had been the cause of their cancer.John Crane Inc.'s involvement in this case became the subject of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court appeal. The company's lawyers attempted to have the case dismissed. They argued that since Crane wasn't a party in the earlier settlement that state law as well as the statutes of limitation prevented the men from seeking damages from Crane twenty years later.Crane's lawyers argued that because Crane was not a party in the original suit that Shaw and Abrams effectively had relinquished any claims they could make against the company because they didn't seek damages from them years ago.The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Reaches a DecisionThe Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned an earlier lower-court ruling in favor of Crane and rejected the attorneys' argument.The Supreme Court argued that the state's legal system has a "two disease rule" for claims relating to asbestos. This means that the plaintiffs earlier settlement for their nonmalignant asbestos-related diseases, which were essentially for the risk and fear that they could develop cancer at some time in the future, didn't establish any statute of limitations for future lawsuits should they actually develop lung cancer.The Estate of The Victims Can Now Sue Based On The "Two Disease Rule" Established By The CourtConsequently, the lawsuit seems to pave the way for Shaw's and Abram's widows to seek damages against John Crane Inc. Based on the "two disease rule," the estates of the two men who died from lung cancer that was related to their asbestos exposure while at work are now able to sue an additional company that manufactured the material, even though that company was not named in the original lawsuit.

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