Toxic Torts: The Numerous Substances That Can Injure You or Make You Sick

Toxic torts represent a significant subcategory of personal injury law. It happens when people sustain illness or injury due to exposure to a toxic substance. That includes hazardous waste, asbestos, lead-based paints, “bad prescription drugs” and numerous other dangerous materials and products.

By definition, a tort is a civil wrong, meaning that someone negligently or deliberately causes you injury. By extension, a toxic tort is one in which someone negligently or deliberately manufactured a product or committed an action that caused you to come into contact with a poisonous, noxious, or otherwise dangerous substance that injured you or made you sick.

You have the right to take legal action against the person or company responsible for your toxic tort injury or illness. If others have suffered the same harm from exposure to the same substance, you may also join a class action lawsuit. In a class action, you and other victims sue together as a group, sharing any compensation awarded by the court.

Recent Class Action Toxic Tort Examples

The best-known example of a class action toxic tort lawsuit is against Monsanto by a group of cancer victims who alleged that their use of Roundup, Monsanto’s most popular weed-killing product, caused their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The jury awarded the plaintiffs compensatory damages of $39 million and punitive damages of $250 million. After several appeals by Monsanto, the total award amount was reduced to $80 million.

Another example, also from California, is the 1993 case against Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of California immortalized in the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich” which starred Julia Roberts as the real-life Erin Brockovich. This case, brought by residents of Hinkley, CA, alleged that PG&E contaminated their drinking water with hexavalent chromium, a toxin that caused many illnesses and deaths in Hinkley, particularly among children. The case ultimately settled in 1996 for $333 million, the largest such settlement in U.S. history.

Dangerous Toxins

Numerous carcinogens and other toxins can form the basis of a toxic tort lawsuit. Some of the most common ones include:

• Asbestos exposure can result in such cancers and other diseases and conditions. Such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, and restrictive lung disease
• Lead-based paint exposure can cause brain damage in children
• Pesticides like DDT and dioxin that can result in birth injuries or cancer in children and adults
• Prescription painkillers. Such as oxycodone (brand name OxyContin), hydrocodone (brand name Vicodin), and fentanyl, all of which result in addiction on the part of their users, often leading to overdose and death
• Prescription benzodiazepines. Such as alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), and lorazepam (Ativan), as well as oxazepam (Serax), clonazepam (Klonopin), and temazepam (Restoril), all of which likewise result in addiction on the part of their users, often leading to overdose and death
• Methadone. Used to treat heroin addiction, but itself a drug that results in addiction on the part of its users, often leading to overdose and death
• Dry cleaning solvents that can cause brain damage and other major organ damage
• Landfill waste that can cause leukemia
• Trichloroethane (TCE). A manmade solvent used to clean metal, that causes central nervous system damage which could lead to death
• Beryllium. A metal-strengthening chemical used in both the mining industry and the aerospace industry, that causes chronic beryllium disease, a condition that scars your lungs and causes respiratory distress and other symptoms

Types of Toxic Tort Lawsuits

Toxic tort lawsuits come in three varieties: negligence, fraud, and strict liability.

Negligence-Based Toxic Tort Lawsuit

You must prove that the plaintiff owed you a duty of care, that he or she breached that duty, that you suffered injury or illness because of the breach, and that the defendant’s action was the proximate (i.e., leading) cause of your illness or injury.

Fraud-Based Toxic Tort Lawsuit

You must prove that the plaintiff knew that his or her product contained a toxin, but that he or she nevertheless marketed the product as safe, made misleading statements as to its safety, or covered up tests showing that the product was toxic.

Strict Liability Toxic Tort Lawsuit

The defendant’s intent has no bearing. Instead, you must prove the following:

• That the defendant was the designer, manufacturer, or seller of the product
• That he or she designed, manufactured, or sold a defective product
• That the product was defective at the time it was sold
• That the defendant knew or should have known that the product was defective
• That you used the product for its intended purpose
• That your use of the product caused your injury
• That your injury was or should have been reasonably foreseeable by the defendant

When To Engage an Attorney

In most toxic tort cases based on negligence or fraud, the biggest challenge is proving the defendant’s role in causing the harm. These cases are detail-heavy, often relying on scientific studies to establish a clear link between the toxin and the injury. Expert witnesses are crucial—they break down complex information for the jury, explaining how the exposure led to your illness, its severity, and its future impact. Their testimony can clarify why the defendant should be held liable for both your financial and personal losses.

contact an experienced personal injury attorney who has successfully handled toxic tort lawsuits in the past as soon as you realize you’re sick or injured. He or she assess the viability of your claim and guides you through the legal process. This includes making sure you file your lawsuit before your state’s statute of limitations for this type of lawsuit expires.

Work With an Experienced Local Lawyer

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About the Author

Aaron is a professional legal writer with a B.S. in English Education from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. He has written, published, and edited thousands of legal articles for RequestLegalHelp, which has connected over 5 million people to legal help in the United States.

With over five years of experience writing thousands of legal articles for law firms across the U.S. and Canada, Aaron specializes in covering federal, state, and city-level legal issues ranging from auto accidents to wrongful terminations. Contact Aaron at [email protected] for article suggestions, collaborations, or inquiries.