The Massachusetts statute of limitations on mesothelioma and asbestos injury claims is actually more lenient than in Virginia - it's either three years from the diagnosis, or three years from death if the claim is for wrongful death. In Virginia, it's two years from diagnosis or two years from death.
In these instances where a person had an earlier asbestos-related diagnosis and then is only later diagnosed with mesothelioma, the question is when does the clock begin ticking: When you were first diagnosed with an asbestos-related ailment, and therefore learned that harm had befallen you as a result of the exposure? Or is there potential for each cause of action to be considered separate?
The court conceded that this almost inevitably would lead to mesothelioma sufferers being unable to file a personal injury claim. But they said this discrepancy was something the General Assembly would need to address - not the courts.
The case stemmed from a claim filed by the widow of a man who had been exposed to asbestos while working in a factory in Virginia between 1957 and 1985. In 1988, he was diagnosed with nonmalignant pleural thickening and asbestosis. At that time, he filed a lawsuit against a number of distributors, manufacturers and sellers of asbestos products for his employment-related asbestos exposure and subsequent medical condition.
Then in late 2008, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma and he died the following spring. His widow filed a wrongful death suit a year-and-a-half later against different defendants. The defendants then filed motions to have the case dismissed on the theory that the two-year statute of limitations clock started upon receiving his first diagnosis.
{ 0 comments... read them below or add one }
Post a Comment