If you are exposed to chemicals at work, it can cause immediate injury or long-term illnesses like cancer. These claims can often be filed through Workers’ Comp, but can you file lawsuits?
Lawsuits are available for injured workers, despite what you might have been told about Workers’ Comp. The limitation is that you cannot file a work-related injury lawsuit against an employer; only Workers’ Comp can cover that. However, claims can be filed against property owners for toxic exposure, manufacturers of dangerous safety gear, and more.
For help with your case, call the Pennsylvania work injury lawyers at Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945.
When Can You Sue for Toxic Exposure at Work?
Employees in nearly all industries and jobs in Pennsylvania are covered by Workers’ Comp. People are often told that Workers’ Comp rules prevent you from suing, but this actually only stops you from suing your employer for a work-related injury.
This leaves you with the ability to sue other parties, but you have to meet certain requirements:
Third-Party Defendant
Since you cannot sue your employer, the defendant has to be a different company or person. Your coworkers or a subsidiary of your employer might not count, but a third-party contractor does qualify for a lawsuit.
Fault
You must prove the defendant was at fault to get damages from them. This requires showing four elements:
- Duty – The defendant owed you a duty, depending on the situation and the relationship to the defendant.
- Breach – The defendant breached or violated that legal duty.
- Causation – The defendant’s actions actually caused your injuries.
- Damages – You have injuries and damages you can be compensated for.
Proof
This is often the hardest part of a chemical exposure case: you need to prove that what they did caused you to be exposed to chemicals, and that chemical exposure caused your injuries.
Something like cancer can arise from many different processes, exposures, or even random chance. Proving that your cancer arose because of chemical exposure at work can be difficult and often requires scientific experts who can present studies linking exposure like yours to the condition you faced.
You may also need extensive documentation of your exposure, such as records of accidents at work, logs of what work you did, and records about how long you worked in certain fields.
When Does Workers’ Comp Cover Your Chemical Exposure Injuries and Illness?
Workers’ Comp is also supposed to cover any work-related injury. This can pay for acute injuries, such as chemical burns, but it can also pay for ongoing illnesses like cancer.
Getting your case covered requires a few elements:
- The injury/illness must be work-related.
- Your injury/illness must disable you for at least 7 days for wage-loss benefits.
- You must be an employee (seasonal and part-time employees are also covered).
Occupational illnesses also have additional requirements that regular injuries (e.g., chemical burns) do not.
- It must have disabled you (or killed your loved one, in a deadly injury case) within 300 weeks of the last time working in the industry.
- The worker must have worked for at least 2 of the past 10 years in the industry.
- The case is filed against the employer the worker most recently worked for for over a year or, if they worked under a year for each employer, against the employer they worked for the longest.
Who Can You Sue for Work-Related Chemical Exposure?
Lawsuits for chemical exposure injuries can be filed against many different parties, depending on what happened and how you were exposed:
- Chemical manufacturers with insufficient warning labels can be held liable for injuries from their products.
- Manufacturers of defective safety gear, PPE, valves, containers, and other products can be held liable for exposure when you relied on their product to keep you safe.
- Property owners can be liable for undisclosed chemical exposure at the property where you worked, such as radon, asbestos, and lead.
- Transportation companies can be held liable for crashes that exposed you to toxic chemicals.
- Companies responsible for dumping and polluting might be liable for injury to affected victims.
Other companies and individuals might be liable for other problems, too.
FAQs for Third-Party Chemical Exposure Cases
What’s the Difference Between a Lawsuit and Workers’ Comp?
A lawsuit requires you to prove fault before you can get paid. Your case can cover any damages that resulted from the injury, including non-economic damages (pain and suffering).
In a Workers’ Comp claim, your employer pays for work-related injuries regardless of who caused the injury (as long as you did not cause your injuries yourself or through drugs, alcohol, or criminal activity). Your damages are limited to medical coverage, a portion of your lost wages, and potentially additional payment for amputation, lost vision, lost hearing, or facial scars.
Can I Get Pain and Suffering Through Workers’ Comp?
Pain and suffering is not available in Workers’ Comp claims.
Can I Sue and Get Workers’ Comp?
You can file both types of claims when a lawsuit is available. If you get paid double for some damages by pursuing both courses of action, you may need to pay back the Workers’ Comp carrier/employer.
How Do I Prove Fault?
Fault can be proven through an array of evidence, like work logs, security footage, and testimony. You will also need to link the exposure you faced to the injuries and illnesses you sustained, potentially by having experts testify about scientific studies and evidence linking your exposure to cancer or other illnesses.
What is a “Toxic Tort”?
A “tort” is like the civil version of a crime. Most injury cases are based on the tort of negligence, where you file for an accident the defendant caused.
Toxic torts are an area of law dealing with lawsuits against companies for dumping chemicals and polluting the environment. This may be part of your case, but it might be a much more straightforward case, like products liability for defective safety gear.
Who Pays Damages for Chemical Exposure at Work?
If you file a Workers’ Comp claim, your employer pays you regardless of fault. If you sue, then you can hold any party responsible if they violated a legal duty and that violation caused your injuries.
Call Our Pennsylvania Work Injury and Chemical Exposure Lawyers Today
Call Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945 for a free case review with our Montgomery County, PA work injury lawyers.
