Toxic tort
Encyclopedia
A toxic tort is a special type of personal injury
lawsuit in which the plaintiff
claims that exposure to a chemical caused the plaintiff's injury or disease.
Most pharmaceutical toxic injury cases are mass tort cases. This is true because drugs are consumed by thousands of people who could have become ill after taking a toxic drug.
There have also been many occupational toxic tort cases, because industrial and other workers are often chronically exposed to toxic chemicals - more so than consumers and residents. Most of the law in this area arises from asbestos
exposure. However, thousands of toxic chemicals are used in industry and workers in these areas can experience a variety of toxic injuries. Unlike the general population, which is exposed to trace amounts of thousands of different chemicals in the environment, industrial workers are regularly exposed to much higher levels of chemicals and therefore have a greater risk of developing disease from particular chemical exposures than the general population.
The home has recently become the subject of toxic tort litigation, mostly due to mold contamination, but also due to construction materials such as formaldehyde
-treated wood and carpet.
Toxic tort cases also arise when people are exposed to consumer products such as pesticides and suffer injury.
Lastly, people can also be injured from environmental toxins in the air or in drinking water. In recent years, ambitious lawyers have increasingly filed environmental toxic tort cases.
However, pharmaceutical toxic tort cases differ from medical malpractice
actions because they are essentially product liability
cases, the defective product being the drug.
Occupational toxic tort cases arise from work but differ from workers' compensation
claims, because workers' compensation claims are made against the worker's employer, while an occupational toxic tort case usually must be brought against "third parties," i.e., people or entities other than the employer - usually manufacturers or distributors of chemicals or the machines or devices that expose the worker to the chemicals, or the owners and lessors of premises where the worker was exposed to the toxic chemicals.
Some people also consider lawsuits claiming damage to real property to be toxic torts cases. However, real property contamination cases are qualitatively different from cases alleging toxic injuries to persons.
Personal injury
Personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. The term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit alleging that the plaintiff's injury has been caused by the negligence of another, but also arises in defamation...
lawsuit in which the plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
claims that exposure to a chemical caused the plaintiff's injury or disease.
Different types
Toxic torts arise in several contexts. People are typically exposed to toxic chemicals from pharmaceuticals, from consumer products, from the environment, in the home, and at work. Most toxic tort cases have arisen either from exposure to pharmaceutical drugs or occupational exposures.Most pharmaceutical toxic injury cases are mass tort cases. This is true because drugs are consumed by thousands of people who could have become ill after taking a toxic drug.
There have also been many occupational toxic tort cases, because industrial and other workers are often chronically exposed to toxic chemicals - more so than consumers and residents. Most of the law in this area arises from asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
exposure. However, thousands of toxic chemicals are used in industry and workers in these areas can experience a variety of toxic injuries. Unlike the general population, which is exposed to trace amounts of thousands of different chemicals in the environment, industrial workers are regularly exposed to much higher levels of chemicals and therefore have a greater risk of developing disease from particular chemical exposures than the general population.
The home has recently become the subject of toxic tort litigation, mostly due to mold contamination, but also due to construction materials such as formaldehyde
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
-treated wood and carpet.
Toxic tort cases also arise when people are exposed to consumer products such as pesticides and suffer injury.
Lastly, people can also be injured from environmental toxins in the air or in drinking water. In recent years, ambitious lawyers have increasingly filed environmental toxic tort cases.
Differences from other types of toxic litigation
Pharmaceutical toxic tort cases are often litigated against drug manufacturers and distributors, as well as prescribing physicians.However, pharmaceutical toxic tort cases differ from medical malpractice
Medical malpractice
Medical malpractice is professional negligence by act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient, with most cases involving medical error. Standards and...
actions because they are essentially product liability
Product liability
Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause...
cases, the defective product being the drug.
Occupational toxic tort cases arise from work but differ from workers' compensation
Workers' compensation
Workers' compensation is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence...
claims, because workers' compensation claims are made against the worker's employer, while an occupational toxic tort case usually must be brought against "third parties," i.e., people or entities other than the employer - usually manufacturers or distributors of chemicals or the machines or devices that expose the worker to the chemicals, or the owners and lessors of premises where the worker was exposed to the toxic chemicals.
Some people also consider lawsuits claiming damage to real property to be toxic torts cases. However, real property contamination cases are qualitatively different from cases alleging toxic injuries to persons.
Common chemicals in toxic tort cases
- BenzeneBenzeneBenzene is an organic chemical compound. It is composed of 6 carbon atoms in a ring, with 1 hydrogen atom attached to each carbon atom, with the molecular formula C6H6....
- BerylliumBerylliumBeryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a divalent element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl and chrysoberyl...
- Pesticides
- Silica
- ManganeseManganeseManganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
- AsbestosAsbestosAsbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
- Dioxin/Agent OrangeAgent OrangeAgent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth...
- PCBs
Common diseases in toxic tort cases
- Aplastic anemiaAplastic anemiaAplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. The condition, per its name, involves both aplasia and anemia...
- AsbestosisAsbestosisAsbestosis is a chronic inflammatory and fibrotic medical condition affecting the parenchymal tissue of the lungs caused by the inhalation and retention of asbestos fibers...
- BerylliosisBerylliosisBerylliosis, or chronic beryllium disease , is a chronic allergic-type lung response and chronic lung disease caused by exposure to beryllium and its compounds. As an occupational lung disease, it is most classically associated with beryllium mining or manufacturing of fluorescent light bulbs...
- ByssinosisByssinosisByssinosis, also called "brown lung disease" or "Monday fever", is an occupational lung disease caused by exposure to cotton dust in inadequately ventilated working environments. Byssinosis commonly occurs in workers who are employed in yarn and fabric manufacture industries...
- Hodgkins disease
- Interstitial lung disease
- LeukemiaLeukemiaLeukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
- LymphomaLymphomaLymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...
- ManganismManganismManganism or manganese poisoning is a toxic condition resulting from chronic exposure to manganese and first identified in 1837 by James Couper.- Presentation :...
- MesotheliomaMesotheliomaMesothelioma, more precisely malignant mesothelioma, is a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body's internal organs, the mesothelium...
- Multiple myelomaMultiple myelomaMultiple myeloma , also known as plasma cell myeloma or Kahler's disease , is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell normally responsible for the production of antibodies...
- PneumoconiosisPneumoconiosisPneumoconiosis is an occupational lung disease and a restrictive lung disease caused by the inhalation of dust, often in mines.-Types:Depending upon the type of dust, the disease is given different names:...
- SarcoidosisSarcoidosisSarcoidosis , also called sarcoid, Besnier-Boeck disease or Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease, is a disease in which abnormal collections of chronic inflammatory cells form as nodules in multiple organs. The cause of sarcoidosis is unknown...
- SilicosisSilicosisSilicosis, also known as Potter's rot, is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, and is marked by inflammation and scarring in forms of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs...
- Thrombocytopenic purpuraThrombocytopenic purpuraThrombocytopenic purpura are purpura associated with a reduction in circulating blood platelets which can result from a variety of causes.- Types :...
See also
- ToxicityToxicityToxicity is the degree to which a substance can damage a living or non-living organisms. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell or an organ , such as the liver...
- Carcinogens
- Groundwater remediationGroundwater remediationGroundwater remediation is the process that is used to remove pollution from groundwater. Groundwater is water present below the ground surface that saturates the pore space in the subsurface. At least one half of the population of the United States depends upon groundwater as a source of...
- Brownfields
- Erin BrockovichErin BrockovichErin Brockovich-Ellis is an American legal clerk and environmental activist who, despite the lack of a formal law school education, or any legal education, was instrumental in constructing a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California in 1993...
- McCullom Lake Cancer SuitMcCullom Lake, IllinoisMcCullom Lake is a village in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,038 at the 2000 census.-Geography:McCullom Lake is located at ....