A Kentucky jury awarded $67.5 million to two brothers who worked as coal miners and developed black-lung disease even though they wore 3M respirators.

The jury determined that Leslie and Michael Cox developed black-lung disease largely because their dust masks, made by 3M Company, were ineffective.

News sources report that this verdict is the largest one determined in an Eastern Kentucky civil lawsuit.

Of the $67.5 million, $62.5 million represents punitive damages against 3M and the rest is to compensate the brothers for pain and suffering that they have experienced and will continue to experience.

Coal miners wear masks so that they do not breathe in the dangerous coal dust produced during the course of their work. Breathing in coal dust allegedly causes black-lung, a disease that prevents a person from breathing.

Black-lung is an incurable condition and can often lead to a premature death. Around 78,000 deaths from black-lung have been reported since the late 1960s, and there has been an uptick in the number of cases of black-lung in recent years.

According to researchers, a number of factors may have led to the increase in cases of black-lung disease in recent years, including the fact that coal miners are often working longer shifts than they have in the past, miners being asked to mine in riskier situations, inadequate rules to control dust, and a failure by coal companies to comply with existing dust control rules.

The jury determined that the 3M dust mask worn by the miners in the course of their employment was not effective in protecting them from breathing in coal dust.

According to the jury, the equipment was in such a “defective and unreasonably dangerous condition” that 3M should not have marketed and sold the equipment for mining use.

Though the men worked for more than a dozen coal companies, the jury did not hold the companies at all liable for the miners’ condition.

However, the jury did not determine that 3M was entirely liable for the miners’ condition, saying that the miners did not exercise a normal level of care that would protect their safety, because both brothers smoked.

The jury in the 3M mining respirator lawsuit determined that 3M was 40 percent responsible for one miner’s injury, and 30 percent responsible for the other’s injury.

If the jury’s determination stands, 3M will be responsible for all of the $62.5 million punitive portion of the settlement.

According to a spokeswoman for 3M, the company is disappointed with the jury’s determination and plans to appeal the verdict.

The Cox brothers’ mining mask problems lawsuit is the third one tried in the same Kentucky County.

In all three, miners claimed that the protective equipment they had used in their work was defective, and the defects at least substantially contributed to them developing black-lung.

News sources report that numerous similar mining 3M Dust Mask black lung lawsuits are still pending, in addition to the three that have already gone to trial.
UPDATE: The 3M Dust Mask Black Lung Investigation is active.  If you work or worked as a coal miner and used a 3M dust mask/respirator and developed black lung disease,submit your information hereto see if you qualify to participate in an investigation!

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.