US Supreme Court Hears Argument On FELA Emotional Distress Claims

Six retired employees sued under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) claiming they suffered asbestosis. A state court jury awarded $5.8 million; the West Virginia Supreme Court declined a discretionary review of the case.

An undesignated portion of the jury award was for emotional distress, including the fear of contracting cancer. The employer claims that the employees presented insufficient evidence of emotional injury related to the fear, such as physical or psychiatric symptoms. In addition, the employer claims that it should not be liable for the entire award because some plaintiffs were exposed to asbestos while working for other companies.

[Editor's Note: All asbestos cases in West Virginia (some 8,000) are assigned to the same trial court.]

Norfolk & Western Railway v. Ayers

Oral argument: November 6, 2002

This abstract was provided by LawMemo.Com, publisher of the popular Employment Law Memo email service. Editor Ross Runkel can be reached at Ross@LawMemo.Com or 1-877-399-8028.