Chartwell founding partner, Andrew E. Greenberg, submits Amicus Curiae brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court addressing additional attempts to create an “intentional tort exception” to the “exclusive remedy” provision of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act .

The Pennsylvania Electric Company v. Dodson case involves a man who was exposed allegedly to asbestos from 1969 to 2002 while in the course of his employment. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in September, 2005 and apparently died sometime after that date.

 

Dodson did not file a workers’ compensation claim, but in September 2007 his wife filed a civil action against a number of entities, including decedent’s employer, Pennsylvania Electric. The lawsuit suggests that decedent was not warned sufficiently of the dangers associated with asbestos exposures. The trial court denied the employer’s motion for summary judgment. The case is now before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

 

Mr. Greenberg was asked to prepare an Amicus Curiae on behalf of The Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania and The American Insurance Association in support of the employer’s appellate brief.

 

The Pennsylvania plaintiffs’ bar has been attempting over the past few years to create an “intentional tort exception” to the exclusive remedy provision set forth in Section 303(a) of the Act. That portion of the Act immunizes employers from civil suits arising out of work-related injuries or diseases. The plaintiffs’ bar has focused its attention on the “disease manifestation time restriction” set forth in Section 310(c)(2) of the Act. That provision instructs that where the employee’s occupational disease manifests itself more than 300 weeks after the last occupational exposure, a recovery under the Act cannot be obtained. The plaintiffs’ bar has urged that where no recovery is achievable under such circumstances, no work injury has occurred, meaning that the exclusive remedy provision should not foreclose a direct civil action against the employer.

 

To review the brief that Mr. Greenberg prepared, please CLICK HERE.