| Abstract: | Pennsylvania recently enacted a law that limits the damages a successor corporation can be required to pay for asbestos liabilities. Senate Bill 216, which the Pennsylvania legislature passed in December 2001, bars any recovery against a qualifying successor corporation in excess of the adjusted fair market value of its predecessor. The act applies to all successor corporations that were incorporated in Pennsylvania prior to May 1, 2001 and that consummated a merger or consolidation with their predecessor prior to that date. Under standard choice-of-law rules, the act should protect qualifying successor corporations in many jurisdictions outside of Pennsylvania. The act survived its first constitutional challenge at the trial court level, and should survive any future challenges in the appellate courts |
