Damages in Nashville Toxic Chemicals and Materials Cases

Damages paid out on claims are considered a deterrent to the company for their wrong doing. One way to calculate damages in Nashville toxic chemicals and materials cases is to determine how much money the defendant can make from that product. If you have been injured due to exposure to toxic materials or chemicals, get in touch with a tenacious and compassionate attorney who can work tirelessly to get justice for you.

The economic damages in Nashville toxic chemicals and materials cases that a person can receive, depends on what kind of injuries they have sustained from the exposure to the toxin or the chemical. It can include:

• Loss of income if they are unable to work
• Medical expenses if the person has to seek treatment
• Future lost wages
• Future medical expenses
• If someone passes away, it will include their burial and funeral expenses and, of course, perhaps punitive damages

The non-economic damages in these cases are generally called pain and suffering, which is the emotional trauma and the pain that someone has to go through after they have been exposed. Also physical problems like finding it harder to breathe, for instance, if a person is exposed to hazardous chemicals. It can also be emotional.

If the person or their loved one has been diagnosed with AML or some kind of leukemia and that the person knows that they are going to pass away, that is a very hard emotional trauma to go through, and it certainly has complicated how to put a compensatory damage amount on the outcome; that is hard.

There is no cap on hard economic damages in Nashville toxic chemicals and materials cases. If a person has $1 million of medical bills or $10 million of medical bills, he can get all those paid by the company. The only caps are for non-economic damages which is $750,000.00 in Tennessee; except for very few limited situations. The other cap would be on the punitive damages.

Damage caps exist because the legislature in Tennessee believes that if they put caps on lawsuits, it makes Tennessee a more business-friendly state. The reality of that is, it also makes it more dangerous. There is a debate on caps and every state that has to make it.

The punitive damages that someone can expect to recover, depends upon the chemical that they were exposed to. The industry was aware of the dangers of asbestos yet continued to use it and expose people to its harmful effect, without warning them of the danger in working with asbestos. In cases where there is a known danger and the company does not warn of the dangers, there are grounds for punitive damages.

The more money they can make, the higher the damages that can be recovered. If the company covered up the danger of the product, then punitive damages are going to be higher. Next a look at the underlying damages of the victim. Will the victim die from this toxic exposure? Those factors will be taken into consideration for punitive damages.

There is a cap on the punitive damages one can receive in Tennessee. It is $500,000 or double the amount of total damages. However, a lot of these cases had exposure outside of Tennessee or occurred prior to the punitive damages cap, so the punitive damage limits are not always there in Tennessee in these specific cases.

There is a one-year Statute of Limitations in Tennessee. There is also what is called a discovery role in Tennessee that gives the victim extra time from their diagnosis to determination of where they were exposed to what chemical.

A person may have been exposed 20 years ago, but may not have suffered an injury until he was diagnosed with leukemia, or cancer, or whatever the injury because of this chemical exposure.

One example is Benzene. A person may be exposed to Benzene over a long period of time. The statute does not run on this particular injury because it can take years and years for AML or leukemia to be diagnosed. Once a person has been diagnosed, the statute begins to run.

Injuries from toxic chemicals and dangerous chemicals can be especially painful, and have the capacity to permanently incapacitate someone. Furthermore, caring for the resultant injuries can be an unanticipated expense, and a difficult financial burden to shoulder alone. If you have been injured due to toxic chemicals or material exposure, and you want to pursue damages before the statute of limitations runs out, contact a qualified personal injury lawyer. An attorney with experience recovering damages in Nashville toxic chemicals and materials cases can draw upon their knowledge to build your case.