Cite as: 538 U. S. 135 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
damages limiting the railroad's liability to the injured employee to a proportionate share?
In resolving the first issue, we follow the line drawn by Metro-North Commuter R. Co. v. Buckley, 521 U. S. 424 (1997), a decision that relied on and complemented Consolidated Rail Corporation v. Gottshall, 512 U. S. 532 (1994). In Metro-North, we held that emotional distress damages may not be recovered under the FELA by disease-free asbestos-exposed workers; in contrast, we observed, workers who "suffe[r] from a disease" (here, asbestosis) may "recover for related negligently caused emotional distress." 521 U. S., at 432. We decline to blur, blend, or reconfigure our FELA jurisprudence in the manner urged by the petitioner; instead, we adhere to the clear line our recent decisions delineate. Accordingly, we hold that mental anguish damages resulting from the fear of developing cancer may be recovered under the FELA by a railroad worker suffering from the actionable injury asbestosis caused by work-related exposure to asbestos.
As to the second issue, we similarly decline to write new law by requiring an initial apportionment of damages among potential tortfeasors. The FELA's express terms, reinforced by consistent judicial applications of the Act, allow a worker to recover his entire damages from a railroad whose negligence jointly caused an injury (here, the chronic disease asbestosis), thus placing on the railroad the burden of seeking contribution from other tortfeasors.
I
The asbestosis claimants (plaintiffs below, respondents here) brought this FELA action against their former employer, Norfolk, in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia.1 Norfolk, they alleged, negligently exposed them to asbestos, which caused them to contract the occupa-1 FELA cases may be brought, at plaintiff's option, in federal court or in state court. 45 U. S. C. § 56.
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