Do I Have a Toxic Tort Claim? – What You Need to Know

Do I Have a Toxic Tort Claim? – What You Need to Know

Do I Have a Toxic Tort Claim? – What You Need to Know

Toxic tort is a type of civil lawsuit that can take a variety of forms. The word “tort” simply means a civil wrongdoing that can legally subject the wrongdoer to the payment of money damages. Toxic just means that the actionable wrongdoing involved damage from exposure to a harmful substance.

Those harmful substances can be anything and everything. Things like asbestos or other dust in the workplace, glyphosate in Roundup weed killer, or lead paint are some of the toxic substances most of us have heard about. But even things that aren’t inherently dangerous, like light or noise or even water, can give rise to toxic tort claims if one is exposed to a sufficient quantity of it. And toxic tort claims are not exclusive to a physical injury. You can have a toxic tort claim if your property is contaminated or damaged by a hazardous substance or even if you’re put at a greater risk for harm, like an increased risk of developing cancer, from being actionably exposed to a harmful substance. 

Depending on the particular circumstances of the exposure, toxic torts can give rise to a variety of different causes of action, including claims for negligence, failure to warn, manufacturing or design defects, trespass, and/or nuisance, among others. Because they often involve matters of science, oftentimes toxic tort claims also necessitate testimony from doctors, engineers, chemists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, and other field specialists. Therefore, it is important to have an experienced law firm on your side if you find yourself having to file a toxic tort claim. If you believe you may have a toxic tort claim because you or your property have been damaged from exposure to a hazardous substance, I would urge you to contact an experienced law firm a right away to explore your claim potential.