September 17, 2009

TO THE COMPANIES IN INTEREST:

Re: Superior Court bars Common Law Cause of Action against Employer where Workers’ Compensation Claim is precluded by Statute of Limitations.

In a case of first impression in the Pennsylvania appellate courts, a three judge Superior Court panel ruled in an opinion dated September 8, 2009, that where a worker’s compensation claim is time-barred under the provisions of the Pennsylvania Worker’s Compensation Act and Occupational Disease Act, the injured employee or his representative may not maintain a common law action against a former employer.

In Ranalli v. Rohm & Haas Co., the plaintiff filed a wrongful death action arising out of the death of his wife caused by a brain tumor. Plaintiff alleged that the tumor resulted from his late wife’s exposure to vinyl chloride while she was an employee of Rohm & Haas between 1974 and 1980. The tumor was diagnosed in 2006. By then, a worker’s compensation claim was precluded by the provisions in the Acts requiring that a claim be made within 300 weeks after the last date of workplace exposure. The plaintiff argued that because the injury was no longer compensable under the Acts, he could assert common law negligence claims against the former employer.

The Superior Court panel disagreed and held that the worker’s compensation bar prevented recovery even though the injury was not compensable under the Acts. Basically, it viewed the time limitation as part of a legislative scheme of tradeoffs; the applicable statutes balanced the employee’s right to no-fault compensation with the employer’s right to be free from stale claims and to have practical limits to the amount of benefits it must provide.

The plaintiff in Ranalli also alleged a claim of fraud against Rohn & Haas. The Superior Court dismissed that claim as well, following existing precedent holding that the only exception to the general worker’s compensation bar exists when an employer knew its employee had a disease and withheld that information, causing an aggravation of that disease.

As stated above, this is the first Pennsylvania appellate court ruling on the subject. Though not discussed in the Court’s opinion, a similar result was reached by the Third Circuit’s Court of Appeals in Weldon v. Celotex Corp., a 1982 decision which dealt with the same issue in the context of an asbestos claim.

Should you have any questions about the above, please do not hesitate to contact me at (215) 665-3301 or lantieri@bbs-law.com.

Very truly yours,

Paul F. Lantieri

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