Diesel Injury Law

Corporations such as railroads have cut corners on old equipment, cheap fuel and unsafe practices for years, putting their profit margins ahead of their employees’ safety. As a result, American workers offering their everyday grit and hard-won experience are rewarded with diesel illnesses such as lung cancer. Industries have identified diesel exhaust as a possible cancer-causing source since the 1950’s. Despite that, workers have been sent into improperly ventilated work-sites with no training, no warnings and no personal protective equipment and been forced to breath in diesel exhaust while becoming caked in diesel soot. These workers endured the day to day exposures and recurring symptoms like ear, nose and throat irritations, lightheadedness, headaches, nausea and chest tightness as “part of the job” and they are now left to pay the price. The everyday diesel exposures, the symptoms of which may have only been temporary, lead to more serious illnesses down the line such as lung, throat, stomach, kidney and bladder cancers and many pulmonary problems, like asthma and COPD. Unfortunately, many treating doctors are not aware of the dangers of diesel exhaust and often attribute a worker’s illness to an alternative cause, such as a smoking history. These same doctors make these findings without visiting their patient’s workplace. The doctors never come to learn that the patient on their examining table is the victim of a toxic exposure to diesel exhaust. As a result, many sickened workers simply accept their fate and fail to pursue their legal options. Our mission at Hughes Law Offices is to shed light on these worthy claims. Diesel exhaust is made up of hundreds of different compounds, many of which have been known cancer-causing agents for decades. In 2012, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that diesel fumes cause cancer. This 2012 finding will make it very difficult for industries to deny that your illness was caused by diesel exhaust. Hughes Law Offices will seek a variety of legal remedies on your behalf depending on your work background. For instance, if you work for a railroad, we will file a claim under the Federal Employer’s Liability Act (FELA). If you are an eligible maritime worker, we will pursue your claim under the Jones Act. We will also file worker’s compensation, premises liability, construction negligence and products liability claims on behalf of the many other trades injured by Diesel Exhaust. There will be no attorney fee unless Hughes Law Offices recovers money on your behalf. Hughes Law Offices will cover the expenses associated with proving up your case, including court filings, expert fees, obtaining medical records and deposition costs. Hughes Law Offices will be reimbursed for those amounts only if money is recovered on your behalf. Case consultations are always free and we are happy to talk over the phone, in our office or we can even have a lawyer travel to you.