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Opinion of the Court
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court. The Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA or Act), 35 Stat. 65, as amended, 45 U. S. C. §§ 51-60, makes common carrier railroads liable in damages to employees who suffer work-related injuries caused "in whole or in part" by the railroad's negligence. This case, brought against Norfolk & Western Railway Company (Norfolk) by six former employees now suffering from asbestosis (asbestosis claimants), presents two issues involving the FELA's application. The first issue concerns the damages recoverable by a railroad worker who suffers from the disease asbestosis: When the cause of that disease, in whole or in part, was exposure to asbestos while on the job, may the worker's recovery for his asbestosis-related "pain and suffering" include damages for fear of developing cancer?
The second issue concerns the extent of the railroad's liability when third parties not before the court—for example, prior or subsequent employers or asbestos manufacturers or suppliers—may have contributed to the worker's injury. Is the railroad answerable in full to the employee, so that pursuit of contribution or indemnity from other potentially liable enterprises is the railroad's sole damages-award-sharing recourse? Or is the railroad initially entitled to an apportionment among injury-causing tortfeasors, i. e., a division of
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations et al. by Jonathan P. Hiatt, Robert Alexander, Leon Dayan, and Laurence Gold.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for American Law Professors by Ned Miltenberg; for the American Public Health Association by Scott L. Nelson, David C. Vladeck, and Brian Wolfman; for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers by William G. Jungbauer and Keith A. Queensen; for the Coalition for Asbestos Justice, Inc., et al. by Victor E. Schwartz, Mark A. Behrens, Walter E. Dellinger III, Pamela A. Harris, Jan S. Amundson, David F. Zoll, Donald D. Evans, and David T. Deal; for the United Transportation Union by Clinton J. Miller III; and for the Washington Legal Foundation by Griffin B. Bell, Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Daniel J. Popeo, and Richard A. Samp.
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