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NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

_____________

No. 11-1986

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PHYLLIS H. KISER, Executrix of the Estate of Orvin H. Kiser, Sr., Deceased,

 Appellant

v.

A.W. CHESTERTON CO., A Massachusetts Corporation; CRANE PACKING CO., An 

Illinois Corporation formerly known as John Crane, Inc.; CROWN CORK & SEAL 

COMPANY, INC., A New York Corporation; EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION, A 

New Jersey Corporation formerly known as Mobil Oil Corporation; FOSTER 

WHEELER CORPORATION, A New Jersey Corporation; GENERAL ELECTRIC 

COMPANY, A New York Corporation; GENERAL REFRACTORIES COMPANY, A 

Pennsylvania Corporation; GEORGIA-PACIFIC CORPORATION, A Georgia 

Corporation; GOULDS PUMPS, INCORPORATED, A Delaware Corporation; 

HARSCO INDUSTRIAL PATTERSON-KELLEY, A Division of Harsco Corporation as 

successor to Patterson-Kelley Company. A Delaware Corporation; INGERSOLL-RAND 

COMPANY, A New Jersey Corporation; JOHN CRANE, INC., Not a Virginia 

Corporation; METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, A New York 

Corporation; RAPID AMERICAN CORPORATION, A New York Corporation; RILEY 

POWER, INC., A Massachusetts Corporation formerly known as Babcock Borsig Power, 

Inc. formerly known as D.B. Riley, Inc. formerly known as Riley Stocker Corporation; 

SEPCO, INC., Not a Virginia Corporation; TRANE U.S. INC., Successor in Interest to 

American Standard Inc.; UNIROYAL, INC., A Delaware Corporation; CBS 

CORPORATION, A Delaware Corporation formerly known as Viacom, Inc., Successor 

by Merger to CBS Corporation, a Pennsylvania Corporation formerly known as 

Westinghouse Electric Corporation (“Westinghouse”); WARREN PUMPS, LLC, Not a 

Virginia Corporation; ZENITH PUMPS, Not a Virginia Corporation

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Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

(D.C. No. 2-11-cv-60039 & 01-md-00875)

District Judge: Honorable Eduardo C. Robreno

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Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a)

March 26, 2012

Before: FUENTES, SMITH, and JORDAN, Circuit Judges

(Filed: April 11, 2013 )

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OPINION OF THE COURT

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FUENTES, Circuit Judge:

This asbestos personal injury case came before this Court on appeal from the 

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which dismissed the

action as time barred under Virginia law. Kiser v. A.W. Chesterton Co., 770 F. Supp. 2d 

745 (E.D. Pa. 2011). 

Recognizing that this appeal raised an important and unresolved question 

concerning the accrual of a cause of action for injury from a latent asbestos-related 

disease under the Virginia statute of limitations, on April 23, 2012 we entered an order 

requesting that the Supreme Court of Virginia accept certification pursuant to Rule 5:40 

of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, and answer the following question of law:

Whether, under Va. Code § 8.01-249(4), a plaintiff’s cause of action for 

damages due to latent mesothelioma is deemed to accrue at the time of the 

mesothelioma diagnosis or decades earlier, when the plaintiff was 

diagnosed with an independent, non-malignant asbestos-related disease.

The Supreme Court of Virginia accepted the certified question of law by order 

entered June 8, 2012. On January 10, 2013 it issued an opinion, which was filed with this 

court on April 3, 2013. For the reasons set forth by the Supreme Court of Virginia in 
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Kiser v. A.W. Chesterton Co., 736 S.E.2d 910 (Va. 2013), we hereby affirm the decision 

of the District Court, dismissing this action as time barred.