Toxic Torts: Illnesses and Lawsuits Due to Substances

Do you know what a toxic tort is? It is a tort, or a civil wrong that causes injury, that stems from contact with a toxic substance. Toxic substances in our environment have grown over the past few years, making many employees susceptible to them. Usually, toxic torts are caused by negligence or carelessness by an employer in the workplace. When you have been injured in one of these incidents, you must show that the substance involved was dangerous, that you were exposed to the substance in the workplace, and that the substance caused harm to the plaintiff. Many of the most common substances in these cases are lead-based paint, asbestos, dry cleaning solvents, and toxic landfill waste.

How You Can Make a Claim 

If you have been affected by a toxic tort, you can typically recover damages through a personal injury lawsuit. If you have been injured in the workplace, you may not be able to recover through a civil lawsuit because work-related injuries are not handled through the civil tort system. Instead, legislation has been passed in the U.S. that creates a remedy to the problem through the workers’ compensation system.

If you bring a personal injury claim, you may run into issues with causation. This means that you as the plaintiff have a legal duty to show that the defendant’s actions were the immediate cause of your harm. An example of this is if you have been poisoned by toxic water and received cancer – if the toxins would not have been there, you could show that the cancer would not have developed. You can get around causation problems by receiving medical testimony that link the toxin and the illness, evidence of exposure in the first place, a high incidence of people who received similar illnesses, and product recalls.

You have many options when you have been harmed by a toxic tort. For years, we have handled these very specific cases and extend our helping hands to you. Call us today at Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi to find out how we can help you if you have been injured and need our guidance.