Three bodies of law do most of the work in a Pennsylvania asbestos case. The Fair Share Act (42 Pa. C.S. § 7102) decides how a verdict is divided among the companies at fault. The venue rules in the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure decide which county’s court can hear the case. And the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas runs a dedicated asbestos program, active since 1986 (In re: Asbestos Litigation, No. 1986-00001), that handles a large share of the state’s cases.
Here is what each one means for a family dealing with a mesothelioma diagnosis.
What is the Fair Share Act?
The Fair Share Act, codified at 42 Pa. C.S. § 7102, is Pennsylvania’s rule for dividing responsibility when more than one defendant is liable. The general rule under the statute is several liability: each defendant pays its own share of the verdict, not the shares of the others. The statute carves out exceptions, and the one that matters most in practice is this: a defendant found sixty percent or more responsible can be required to pay the entire judgment (42 Pa. C.S. § 7102).
In plain English: if a jury finds four companies liable, each one generally owes only its own slice. But a defendant who carries most of the fault can be made to cover the whole award, and then chase the others for reimbursement.
How the Fair Share Act plays out in an asbestos case
Asbestos cases almost never involve a single defendant. A pipefitter who worked thirty years handled insulation, gaskets, packing, and cement made by many different companies, and several of those companies are now bankrupt. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court addressed how the Fair Share Act applies to this situation in Roverano v. John Crane, Inc. (Pa. 2020), holding that in strict liability asbestos cases the verdict is divided equally among the liable defendants, per capita, rather than by jury-assigned percentages of fault. The Court also held that bankruptcy trusts that have settled with the plaintiff can be included when the shares are counted.
The practical consequence is that identifying every responsible company matters enormously. Each solvent defendant on the verdict sheet, and each trust claim, changes the arithmetic of who pays what. That identification work, reconstructing decades-old product exposure, is a large part of what an asbestos lawyer actually does.
Where can you file? Venue in plain English
Venue rules decide which county’s Court of Common Pleas can hear your case. Under the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure (Pa.R.Civ.P. 1006 and 2179), a corporation can generally be sued in a county where it regularly conducts business, where its registered office or principal place of business sits, or where the cause of action arose. Because many asbestos defendants are national companies that regularly do business in Philadelphia, venue there is often proper even for a worker who was exposed elsewhere in the state.
That is not a loophole; it is how the rules are written. But venue is decided case by case, on the actual defendants named, so where your case can be filed depends on facts a lawyer has to check rather than assume. Defendants also contest venue when it suits them, and a case filed in the wrong county can be transferred, which costs time a mesothelioma patient does not have. Getting the venue analysis right the first time is part of the filing decision, not an afterthought.
The Philadelphia asbestos program
The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas has maintained a dedicated asbestos docket since 1986 under the master caption In re: Asbestos Litigation, No. 1986-00001. Cases filed there move through coordinated case management rather than a general civil queue. Michael C. Schafle, Esq. is counsel in that docket. How the program works, step by step, is covered in the Philadelphia asbestos docket.
The deadline controls everything else
None of these rules help if the case is filed late. Pennsylvania’s general deadline is two years (42 Pa. C.S. § 5524), with a discovery rule that usually starts the clock at diagnosis rather than at exposure. The exceptions, in both directions, are explained in the Pennsylvania asbestos statute of limitations.
What this means for your family
The Fair Share Act and the venue rules are not trivia. They determine whether a verdict is collectible and whether your case sits in a court that knows asbestos litigation. Both questions get answered early, when the defendants are identified and the complaint is filed, which is another reason not to wait. More context on the whole framework is in the Pennsylvania asbestos law overview.
If you want to know how these rules apply to your work history, request a free case review and we will walk through it.