Metro-north Commuter Railroad Company v. Michael Buckley (521 U.S. 424)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 23, 1997 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 521 U.S. 424 · 117 S. Ct. 2113
- Decided
- June 23, 1997
- Term
- October Term 1996
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court. The basic question in this case is whether a railroad worker negligently exposed to a carcinogen (here, asbestos) but without symptoms of any disease can recover under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA or Act), 35 Stat. 65, as amended, 45 U. S. C. § 51 et seq., for negligently inflicted emotional distress. We conclude that the worker before us here cannot recover unless, and until, he manifests symptoms of a disease. We also consider a related claim for medical monitoring costs, and we hold, for reasons set out below, that the respondent in this case has not shown that he is legally entitled to recover those costs. Respondent, Michael Buckley, works as a pipefitter for Metro-North, a railroad. For three years (1985-1988) his job exposed him to asbestos for about one hour per working day. During that time Buckley would remove insulation from pipes, often covering himself with insulation dust that contained asbestos. Since 1987, when he attended an “asbestos awareness” class, Buckley has feared that he would develop cancer — and with some cause, for his two expert witnesses testified that, even after taking account of his now-discarded 15-year habit of smoking up to a pack of cigarettes per day, the exposure created an added risk of death due to cancer, or to other asbestos-related diseases, of either 1% to 5% (in the…
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