Silicosis is a type of lung disease caused by silica dust exposure through inhalation. Silicosis is generally characterized by inflammation/scarring of certain parts of the lungs. Symptoms may include cough, fever, shortness of breath, bluish-tinged skin (cyanosis), and other issues.
Silicosis is often referred to by occupation-related terms, such as grinder’s asthma, potter’s rot, miner’s phthisis, and other terms. Due to its similarity to other lung conditions, silicosis is sometimes misdiagnosed as pneumonia.
Workers in many industries suffer exposure to silica dust. As a result, millions of people have been diagnosed with silicosis. Silicosis is an incurable lung disease, and it progressively worsens over time. When a person is exposed to silica dust, the particles enter the lungs and form nodules. The nodules in the lungs can interfere with breathing and cause other symptoms. Silicosis may worsen over a matter of weeks, months, years, or even decades.
Suppose you have been exposed to silica dust or diagnosed with silicosis. In that case, you may qualify for compensation for the harm you have suffered from exposure to the silica dust.
What Are the Causes of Silicosis?
The dangers of exposure to silica dust are very well-documented. Health and safety officials have warned about the dangerous effects of silica dust for decades and urged employers to take action. However, regulations have done little to preserve American workers’ health and legal rights. As a result, numerous silicosis lawsuits have arisen nationwide. In recent years, handfuls of silicosis lawsuits involving multi-million dollar settlements have drawn attention.
Silicosis is generally thought of as an industrial disease. Silicosis is caused by repeated or prolonged exposure to silica through inhalation. It is common in jobs where a person is exposed to silica through working with various silica-containing stones and rocks. Thus, it is often associated with the stone-cutting industry.
Silicosis may be caused by:
- Failure to use proper breathing protection equipment
- Inadequate ventilation in work areas
- Use of power tools that create large amounts of silica dust, in comparison with hand tool methods
- Negligence of a supervisor or manager in instructing a worker
- Poor safety and hazard policies in the workspace
There are four different categories of silicosis: Acute, Complicated, Accelerated, and Chronic Simple silicosis. These categories are based on the extent of the injuries, the length of exposure to the silica, and the time period of onset of symptoms. Acute silicosis is the least severe classification. Chronic silicosis is the most serious and advanced type. Chronic silicosis results from years of exposure.
Can I File a Legal Suit for Silicosis Injuries?
Like most tort actions relating to exposure to toxic substances, silica lawsuits can be brought on behalf of an injured person or on behalf of a group of people who have similar claims against the same defendants. For example, workers in the same factory may sue under one claim. This form of lawsuit is called a class action. Silicosis injuries can lead to lawsuits to recover damages for the injuries. These damages may include recovery of lost wages, medical costs, and legal fees. Silicosis lawsuits are prevalent in cases where negligence is involved on the employer’s part.
One of the main difficulties in a silicosis legal claim is that the symptoms often do not appear until many years after exposure. Thus, proving liability can be a difficult task that usually requires the assistance of a legal professional.
Recently, select states have enacted laws that set medical eligibility requirements for people who want to file a lawsuit for exposure to silica. In those states, workers whose health problems are not severe enough to meet the eligibility guidelines may have to wait until their health worsens before they can file a lawsuit for silica exposure.
Plaintiffs in silica lawsuits can use several legal theories to prove that an employer, manufacturer, or other company is responsible for the injuries caused by exposure to silica. Negligence and products liability are two of the most commonly-used liability theories in silica exposure cases.
How is Negligence Proven in Silica Exposure Cases
In a lawsuit involving injuries, defendants can be found negligent if they fail to use ordinary or reasonable care in dealing with the plaintiff. In a silica exposure case, a group of workers might allege that their employer was careless by allowing employees to be exposed to excessive amounts of silica dust while on the job. The plaintiff’s claim might center around the employer’s failure to take proper safety precautions to protect workers from inhaling silica dust.
The plaintiff’s lawyers may point to the employer’s failure to adhere to proper guidelines on workplace safety as evidence of negligence. Plaintiffs might also use evidence that levels of silica dust found in the air at the workplace exceeded minimum safety standards.
Negligence claims can also be based on the failure to properly warn against safety risks. For example, workers in silica exposure cases might allege that a manufacturer of a product containing silica, such as blasting sand, did not act reasonably when it failed to warn employees that the product contained silica. Because silica is dangerous when inhaled, this theory might especially be effective in lawsuits by workers who got sick after being exposed to silica for several decades.
How is Products Liability Proven in Silica Exposure Cases?
Silica exposure injury cases may be based on a products liability theory. In these cases, plaintiffs allege that a product containing silica is dangerous or that a manufacturer failed to provide adequate warnings or instructions on how to handle the product safely. Plaintiffs usually sue the manufacturer and the distributor of the product in these types of cases.
Plaintiffs can use product liability claims to sue manufacturers of safety equipment. For example, if a mask is defective and fails to protect workers from inhaling silica dust, the workers could sue the mask manufacturer.
Do I Need a Lawyer for Help with Silicosis Legal Claims?
Silicosis is a serious condition that can often be debilitating for the injured person. You may need to hire a class action lawyer in your area if you need help filing a silicosis legal claim. Your attorney can inform you of what types of legal options are available. If you need to file documents or other paperwork, your attorney can assist with those as well. Also, your lawyer will be able to represent you in court once trial meetings and hearings start.
Claims involving silica exposure are not the kind of lawsuits in which you can represent yourself sufficiently. Silica exposure cases involve complex and sophisticated legal and scientific issues. Depending on your case, it might be wise to hire a lawyer who specializes in products liability claims, workplace toxins, or other types of silica litigation.
You may also want to consult with your attorney to determine if there are any existing silica exposure class-action lawsuits related to your specific circumstances. If so, your lawyer may advise you to join that class action. If a class-action lawsuit already exists, consider contacting the lawyers for the case directly. They will likely consult with you for free.
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