7 Common Claims in Toxic Exposure Cases 

Toxic Exposure Personal Injury Claims

A victim of toxic exposure to chemicals may have the right to seek personal injury damages for their contamination or exposure to PFAS or other toxic chemicals. If contamination or exposure to PFAS or another toxic chemical has caused a victim to suffer personal injury, property damages, or other kinds of losses, the victim may seek monetary compensation for such losses from the entity that caused the contamination, exposure, or has contributed to those losses. The environmental lawyers at Williams Cedar have successfully obtained personal injury damages for victims of toxic exposure.

There are two basic categories of damages awarded in PFAS or toxic tort exposure cases, compensatory and punitive.

Compensatory Damages

There are many types of compensatory damages in PFAS or toxic tort cases, they are broken down into general or special damages. Compensatory damages seek to compensate or reimburse a victim for the harm they have suffered because of their toxic exposure to PFAS or other chemicals.

Special compensatory damages for monetary expenses incurred because of a victim’s exposure or contamination may be achieved. The award of special damages is to make a victim whole for expenses incurred or for money lost due to their toxic exposure or contamination to PFAS or other toxic chemicals. Special damages cover any loss or expense incurred because of the victim’s PFAS or toxic chemical exposure or contamination. There is no limit to the types of special damage claims that can be made or the amount that can be claimed.

Some common types of special damages include:

• Loss of earnings
• Loss of profits
• Loss of future earnings
• Loss of future profits
• Medical bills and expenses
• Cost of future medical bills and expenses
• Household expenses
• Clean up expenses
• Expenses associated with providing new water sources
• Filtration expenses
• Cost of medical and/or biomedical monitoring
• Remediation expenses

General damages compensate a victim of PFAS or other toxic chemical exposure or contamination for non-monetary damages they have suffered. Some of the most common types of general damages are:

• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Loss of consortium or companionship
• Loss of services
• Disability
• Impairment
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Aggravation of preexisting disability
• Nuisance
• Death

The environmental lawyers at Williams Cedar have years of experience in obtaining these general and special damages for their clients. Contact us for a free case evaluation if you believe you have been the victim of toxic exposure.

Punitive Damages

Punitive Damages are awarded in PFAS or toxic chemical exposure cases to punish the entity that caused the PFAS or toxic chemical exposure and to deter the wrongdoer from similar wrongful conduct in the future in certain types of contemptible conduct cases.

Punitive damages are only awarded to a victim of PFAS or other toxic chemical due to their exposure or contamination when the wrongful behavior of the defendant was despicable or reprehensible.  Punitive damages have been awarded when a defendant is found to be guilty of wanton or malicious acts or fraud. 

Not awarded as a routine matter in every case, punitive damages are to punish an entity which has acted in an especially egregious or outrageous matter and to discourage that entity from engaging in similar misconduct in the future. 

In awarding punitive damages, a jury must consider (1) the likelihood, at the relevant time, that serious harm would arise from the entity’s conduct; (2) the entity’s awareness or reckless disregard of the likelihood that such serious harm would arise from its conduct; (3) the conduct of entity upon learning that its initial conduct would likely cause harm; and (4) the duration of the conduct or any concealment of it by the entity. 

Also, the jury considers the profitability of the entity’s misconduct; when the misconduct was terminated; and the financial condition of the entity or its ability to pay the punitive damages award.

With the wide array of harm air toxic chemical exposure can cause, and the difficulties in detecting such exposures in certain cases, it is essential that you consult with experienced environmental trial lawyers with profound knowledge in this field.  Contact the environmental lawyers at Williams Cedar for a free consultation if you believe you or someone you know have been exposed to toxic air contaminants.

Medical Monitoring

Medical monitoring means a program of medical tests or procedures for the purpose of early detection of signs or symptoms of a latent disease resulting from toxic exposure or contamination. A victim of toxic exposure or contamination from PFAS or other toxic chemicals may obtain a mandate that the entity that manufactured a potentially hazardous product or discharged the hazardous product pay for diagnostic tests to determine whether individual victims toxic exposure or contamination to the product may be developing early signs of injury or disease before they demonstrate any clinical evidence of disease.

Biological Monitoring

Biological monitoring is a way of assessing toxic exposure to chemicals by measuring the chemical or its breakdown products in a biological sample (usually urine, blood, or breath).  Victims of PFAS or other toxic exposure or contamination to chemicals may compel the entity responsible for the toxic exposure or contamination to pay for the testing and to inform victims who may have been exposed or contaminated by the PFAS or the toxic chemical of the amount of PFAS or toxic chemical in their body. 

Negligence

Negligence is simply the failure to use reasonable care resulting in damage or injury to another. Manufacturers and handlers of PFAS or other toxic chemicals who have failed to use that degree of care, precaution, and vigilance which a reasonable company would use under the same or similar circumstances are negligent if the release of those chemicals causes damage, including toxic exposure.  This includes both affirmative acts which a reasonably cautious entity would not have done and the omission of acts or precautions which a reasonably cautious entity would have done or taken in the circumstances.  To establish negligence, it is not necessary that it be shown that the entity had an evil heart or an intent to do harm.

In some settings risk is greater than in others.  When this is so, a reasonably careful entity will exercise a greater amount of care, that is, care in proportion to the increased risk of toxic exposure. Anyone using toxic chemicals or PFAS is held to a correspondingly higher degree of care toward all persons who in the exercise of their lawful right may encounter it.  The responsibility imposed upon the PFAS or the toxic chemical handler or manufacturer is the use of reasonable care consistent with the dangerous instrumentality employed and a proper anticipation of the results which could be reasonably foreseen, the exposure or contamination by the toxic chemical or PFAS.

Nuisance

Release and discharge of PFAS and other toxic chemicals, resulting in toxic exposure, may cause an unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of one’s land which results in material interference with the ordinary comfort of human existence, i.e., annoyance, inconvenience, discomfort or harm to the person or property of another.  A property owner has the right to the reasonable use of their land.

Trespass to Real Property

An entity that releases PFAS or other toxic chemical into the air, land or water which causes damages to a property owner is entitled to the difference between the fair market value of the property before and after the trespass by the entity.  Damages may include the profits or earnings, the monetary advantage or income which the entity has derived from such release or discharge of PFAS or other toxic chemicals.  If the release or discharge of PFAS or other toxic chemicals caused the destruction of crops, money damages representing the probable fair market value of the crops can be obtained.

Environmental Lawyers Who Represent Victims of Toxic Exposure

If you or a loved one has been injured or become seriously ill as a result of toxic exposure, do not hesitate to contact the experienced environmental lawyers at Williams Cedar. We are on your side and will aggressively pursue the maximum financial compensation to which you are entitled. To schedule a free consultation, call our Philadelphia, Pennsylvania offices at 215-557-0099 or our Haddonfield, New Jersey offices at 856-470-9777, or contact us online.