The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has expanded the separate-disease rule in asbestos cases to allow a plaintiff to sue more than once for two distinct, malignant, asbestos-related diseases arising at different times.
The state’s separate-disease rule was first introduced in 1992 in the case Marinari v. Asbestos Corp. to allow a person who sued for a non-malignant form of asbestos-related diseases to later sue for a malignant disease caused by the same asbestos exposure. Prior to Marinari , asbestos plaintiffs had two years from developing an asbestos-related disease to sue and they had to raise claims for all current damages as well as future damages that may develop over time.
