Workers’ Claims Were Timely Based on Date They Knew About Their Hearing Loss and Its Cause

MONROE, LA (November 2, 2009) Judge James H. Boddie, Jr. recently ruled in favor of a group of workers who suffer from noise-induced hearing loss caused by their work for Graphic Packaging International, Inc. and Olin Corporation, which operated the same paper and box manufacturing facility at different times. The court ruled that the workers’ claims could go forward, finding that the time period to file the claims was tolled until the plaintiffs knew they suffered hearing loss and discovered its cause.

The defendants argued that the workers’ hearing loss claims were prescribed—or time barred—because the occupational noise exposure began so long ago that the time period to file a lawsuit had passed. Baron & Budd, who represented the workers, explained that noise-induced hearing loss is a slow and insidious injury, making it very difficult for those who develop it to recognize the symptoms until they are very advanced. For the employees, that problem was compounded by the companies’ poor hearing conservation program—in which hearing tests were performed inconsistently and the results not adequately explained to workers. Hearing protection was not consistently required.

Burton LeBlanc

“The companies’ own executive admitted the hearing conservation program was deficient,” said Burton LeBlanc , a shareholder with Baron & Budd. “These workers paid the price for their employers’ failure, and the companies need to take responsibility now for their injuries.”

In legal terms, the court denied the defendants’ exception of prescription because the exception of contra non valentem applied and tolled the prescriptive period until the plaintiffs knew they suffered hearing loss and discovered its cause. The court’s ruling allows the case to go forward, and Baron & Budd will continue to pursue a fair recovery for these workers.

According to some estimates, about 30 million Americans suffer exposure to high intensity occupational noise, putting them at risk for hearing loss. Moreover, most workers are unaware that loud noise in the workplace can cause permanent hearing loss. Progressive damage to the inner ear can cause hearing loss, sound distortion and ringing in the ears. Background noise can become more disruptive. The damage is progressive and, in some cases, can develop into total deafness. Read more about noise-induced hearing loss.

About Baron & Budd

Dallas-based Baron & Budd, P.C., with offices in Baton Rouge, Austin and Beverly Hills, is a nationally recognized firm with more than three decades of experience representing people and communities harmed by corporate negligence. It has been recognized by the National Law Journal’s “Plaintiffs’ Hot List” six out of the seven years the list has been published (2002-2006, 2008, by Incisive Media). The firm resolved one of the first asbestos cases in the United States in the 1970s and continues to serve people diagnosed with mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer, as well as communities and consumers dealing with the costs of fraud and corporate misconduct.