Georgia Appeals Panel Reverses Ruling on Silica Causation, Defendants’ Duty to Warn

ATLANTA — A Georgia appeals court has reversed an award of summary judgment to three respirator defendants in a case brought by a former sandblaster whose exposure to silica led to his silicosis and eventually a double-lung transplant.

The Court of Appeals of Georgia ruled March 21 that the trial court erred when it held that the plaintiff-sandblaster was required to establish the actual quantity of respirable silica to which he was exposed while wearing the defendants’ products. The court also determined the trial court’s finding that neither Mine Safety Appliances nor supplier defendants Miles Supply of Elberton Inc. and …