Damages For Distress About What Hasn’t Happened Yet

Epstein Becker & Green attorney William A. Ruskin looks at a case under review in the 9th Circuit. Military contractor KBR lost a district court case in Oregon and was ordered to pay $85 million damages to twelve U.S. soldiers for their exposure to toxic chromium dust while working on a KBR worksite in Iraq. Attorneys for the company argue it will be an important precedent, and if the verdict is upheld future plaintiffs will be able to claim damages on the basis of emotional distress over a “sub-cellular or genetic transformation” that has caused no identified physical symptoms and may never do so.