A New Litigation Target: It’s in the Air…

May 13th, 2010. By Hunter West

It was revealed this month that yet another study—this one originating with researchers in Ottawa on the Chilean population—suggests that air pollution carries with it risk for stroke and thrombosis. 

We already know—and have for a long time—that bad air can make you sick. Employees have sued their employers for the bad air coursing through a building’s ventilation systems. Air travelers have sued airlines for the bad air found in some commercial jets. 

The latter is a real concern. If the air inside a commercial jet is making you sick, it’s not like you can just get off at the next stop. Short of getting them to drop the oxygen mask so you can get relief that way, there isn’t a lot you can do but suffer in silence—and sue the bastards when you land. 

Which is what some people have done. 

So you work in a sick building. Short of launching a formal complaint against your employer, you can always get outside and get some fresh air when you find the air in the workplace, overwhelming. 

(Workers sue anyway). 

But what happens when the air outside, is worse than the air inside? 

Research is suggesting that the air pollution out there can be hazardous to your health. Sure, we’ve all joked about it—and even sensed it—but now research is suggesting we’re not far off the mark. 

So you don’t like the air in, say, Detroit or in the valleys of California where the mountains trap the smog. Okay, so you move. 

But what if you can’t? What if your job ties you to that city, that area? What if you work outside, exposing your lungs to countless hours of polluted air? 

What happens if you suffer a stroke? 

Just watch…somebody, somewhere is going to sue the municipality for bad air. For a decades-long habit of allowing industrial behemoths to locate in their communities, and spew toxins and black soot into the air from menacing smokestacks. And, for doing little to clean up the air. 

Corporations have been the subjects of litigation in the past. WR Grace was accused of making an entire community sick after releasing asbestos-laced toxins into the air over Libby, Montana. According to a recent court case, about 1,200 residents of the small town have been identified as suffering some kind of asbestos-related health issue. 

Sadly, that case ended with an acquittal on May 8^th of last year. Thus, it’s the one-year anniversary of that unfortunate outcome. The indictment claimed that the company and its executives knew as early as the 1970s that asbestos emissions from its plant were a potential health issue, but did nothing. Despite the acquittal on the criminal charge and the years-long legal wrangling, WR Grace has voluntarily paid the medical bills of some 900 residents. 

All this to say—what’s stopping a resident of any municipality that has bad air, from launching an action against that municipality for the bad air? 

Municipalities are already sued for all kinds of things—mostly infrastructure fails that cause injuries. If a sidewalk isn’t properly patched or repaired and you trip, fall and break your leg—you’re going to sue the municipality. That’s why they carry insurance. 

One can suppose that a municipality can fight a claim over the air, in that a municipality has no control over the air. It migrates. Air is not an installed entity. You cannot manage the outside air. 

Oh, but you can… 

By not allowing polluting industries into the municipality, or requiring existing polluters to clean up their act. Beefing up mass transit, providing an incentive to leave the car at home. Encouraging companies to afford their employees the right and freedom to telecommute, further reducing the carbon footprint. Planting more trees, and installing more parks and green space. Install bike baths. Encourage cycling. 

Can an individual, who lives and works in a municipality identified as having polluted air successfully, sue that municipality for health issues citing the air? Why not? 

Can you win? Hard to say. But you can try. 

And now you’ve got some research that suggests air pollution is hazardous to your health. 

You can bet that the legal departments of municipalities are getting their ducks in a row, just in case… 

Tags: Air Pollution

This was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Environment . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.