Selective Insurance challenges duty to cover EOS Surfaces silica claims

The underlying lawsuits – now coordinated in California – include more than 260 “Stone Countertop Worker Silicosis Cases.” According to the complaints, plaintiffs allege exposure to “stone dust containing silica and other toxins and carcinogens, as well as artificial stone dust containing respirable crystalline silica (including quartz and cristobalite), metals (including aluminum, antimony, arsenic, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, titanium, tungsten, and vanadium) and volatile organic compounds from polymeric resins and other binders (including phthalic anhydride, benzene, ethylbenzene, and toluene) from this work, which caused plaintiff’s lung disease characterized by pulmonary nodules, silicosis, pulmonary fibrosis, progressive massive fibrosis, and other forms of lung damage.” The complaints further allege that these exposures resulted in “substantial medical treatment, including hospitalizations and surgeries, and will need lung transplantation.”