PA Supreme Court Denies Petition for Allowance of Appeal on Case Attempting to Test “Exclusive Remedy” Provisions of Workers’ Compensation Act

On October 19, 2010 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied plaintiffs’ Petition for Allowance of Appeal, effectively ending a major effort by the Pennsylvania plaintiffs’ bar’s to create an exception to the workers’ compensation “exclusive remedy” provision. In Ranalli v. Rohm and Haas, plaintiffs filed a civil tort claim against decedent’s former employer, alleging that she developed a fatal brain tumor as a consequence of occupational exposures to chemicals produced in her employer’s tanning plant. Plaintiffs maintained that their civil suit against decedent’s employer was permissible because the manifestation of her alleged occupational disease occurred well after the date she was obligated to file any potential workers’ compensation claim. Chartwell partner, Andrew E. Greenberg, Esquire, prepared and filed an Amicus Brief on behalf of the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania and the American Insurance Association, in support of decedent’s employer, Rohm and Haas. Over the past two years Mr. Greenberg has filed a series of Amicus Curiae briefs in multiple cases brought before the Pennsylvania Superior Court, addressing the same issued raised in Ranalli.

 

For more information, please see The Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, Inc. Newsletter.