Although you are exposed to various hazards throughout your day, you are usually aware of them as they threaten you. A danger that will not make you aware of its presence is carbon monoxide; it can exist in your home or workplace without your or anyone else’s knowledge. If left unchecked, it can cause severe and irreversible damages. Nearly 30,000 individuals are harmed by carbon monoxide poisoning each year, and many are unable to determine what caused their illnesses; the longer the condition affects you without treatment, the higher the chance of an untimely death. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to be compensated for various damages if you are a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning and your illness was caused due to the negligence of another party. Our accomplished Stockton lawyers with expertise in CO poisoning at Normandie Law Firm promise to do all we can to help you earn the fairest compensation you deserve.
Basic Carbon Monoxide Information
Carbon monoxide is caused by the improper or incomplete burning of fuel sources like propane, kerosene, gasoline, oil, petroleum, wood, and more. The carbon-based products do not get fully used up and the result is carbon monoxide, which is emitted into the air. The fumes are tasteless, colorless, and odorless, and they are virtually undetectable unless you use a special carbon monoxide detector. This “silent killer” claims hundreds of lives each year.
Fortunately, if you are able to show that your poisoning was caused because of someone else’s negligence, you could file a carbon monoxide poisoning lawsuit.
Carbon Monoxide’s Effects on the Body
When carbon monoxide is inhaled, it enters the blood stream and deprives red blood cells of oxygen. Your body desperately needs oxygen in order to survive; all of your organs are dependent on it, and its absence can be deadly. When these red blood cells die off, your organs cannot properly function and you begin to feel the adverse effects.
If you are afflicted with carbon monoxide poisoning, you may have trouble discerning the symptoms from those of another sickness, like the flu. Some of the common symptoms of carbon monoxide include:
- Nausea
- Headache
- Loss of balance
- Vomiting
- Fatigue
- Shortness of breath
- Muscle weakness
- Cognitive troubles
- Loss of consciousness
The severity of these symptoms depends on the concentrated amount of carbon monoxide in the air. When there are higher levels of carbon monoxide, you are more likely to quickly be injured as opposed to getting sick over a longer period of time. You may be afflicted with:
- Memory loss
- Trouble sleeping
- Cognitive problems
- Coordination trouble
- Delirium
- Lung damage
- Heart trouble
- Brain damage
- Death
Needless to say, carbon monoxide does not do any good for the body. The potential damages are too debilitating to not take seriously. In order to detect if you have carbon monoxide poisoning, you should ask your physician to perform more than a cursory examination – you should ask for a test that determines oxygen levels; if your levels are too low, it may indicate carbon monoxide poisoning. Treatment should be an administration of pure oxygen into your body, whether by a breathing tube or by insertion into an oxygen chamber.
If you need a recommendation for a qualified medical professional to help you, call our carbon monoxide exposure law firm in Stockton.
Determining the Source of Carbon Monoxide
The biggest issue that those suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning face is figuring out what is causing the illness in the first place. There are numerous sources that can be attributed to the sickness, and it is important that you find out where the emissions are coming from so you can solve the problem.
Some emissions come from natural cases, like forest fires, marshes, mines, and swamps, but few people are near those locations often enough or long enough to be afflicted with carbon monoxide poisoning. Emissions that come from vehicle exhausts, like cars, trucks, buses, boats, and freighters, are more common, but the sheer amount of cars and openness of the atmosphere means it is less likely that you will be affected;
It is most likely that carbon monoxide will be present in your home, workplace, or building you frequent. At home, the common causes are household appliances that are improperly ventilated or are broken in some way, like refrigerators, stoves, and grills; heating systems that do not properly work or go through combustion, like furnaces, space heaters, fireplaces, and water heaters; and household items meant for home improvement or landscaping, like lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and snow blowers.
Some of these sources can be attributed to the negligence of your landlord or a property owner, especially if you had no part in the malfunction of the system or appliance. You should call a CO exposure poisoning injury lawyer in Stockton for more help.
Taking Legal Action
Once you have pinpointed the cause of your sickness, you can then begin to discern whether or not you can take legal action. If there is no specific defendant that was negligent in his actions, such as in the cases of forest fires or numerous vehicles’ emissions, you will likely have no way to file a lawsuit. However, if a landlord did not properly inspect a stove prior to you moving in and it was found to leak carbon monoxide, you could sue your landlord.
Similarly, if a building you consistently occupy, whether for work or please, has a problem with a heating system or other appliance and the carbon monoxide emissions caused you to contract the illness, you could file a claim against the property owner. If the property owner were aware of these emissions, he is under legal obligation to provide a warning to everyone who enters, whether in the form of a sign or notice. He must also strive to correct the issue.
If you purchased an item that was proven to be a source for carbon monoxide emissions, you could sue the company or business that sold you the product. Businesses are obligated to provide their customers with products that are safe and do not cause physical harm; the presence of carbon monoxide emissions violates that obligation.
You can receive the help you need in filing a lawsuit against the relevant party when you call a Stockton lawyer for carbon monoxide poisoning.
Potential Types of Compensation from a Lawsuit
A lawsuit filed against the negligent party for your carbon monoxide poisoning can net you various kinds of compensation for your injuries and damages. You should not be expected to cover your own expenses if fault can be assigned to another entity. With the help of a Stockton lawyer with experience in carbon monoxide poisoning lawsuits, you could receive:
- Coverage of medical expenses, including surgery costs, hospitalization fees, medication costs, and more. You could also be covered for any future treatments that you will need.
- Reimbursement of lost wages, including any future income that you will miss because of time spent in recovery, injured, or in medical procedures.
- Reimbursement for damaged property or any items that were harmed, damaged, broken, or lost as a result of the incident, such as household appliances and items.
- Pain and suffering damages, or non-economic damages, which cover emotional trauma, psychological stress, mental scarring, fear, anxiety, PTSD, and more.
- Punitive damages, which are handed out when the responsible party acted with gross negligence. These damages are additional forms of monetary compensation meant to punish the defendant; many courts view these payments as excessive and over the top, however, so only a skilled Stockton attorney experienced in CO exposure lawsuits will be able to win them for your case.
There is a chance that a loved one passed away from complications related to carbon monoxide poisoning. If so, you could file a carbon monoxide wrongful death lawsuit, which would allow you to receive overage for funeral expenses, medical expenses and pain and suffering damages accrued prior to the death, loss of consortium, loss of inheritance, and more.
Normandie’s Role
Our team of attorneys at Normandie Law Firm promises to work hard to win you the compensation you deserve. You should be fairly treated in the wake of a carbon monoxide illness. Our lawyers promise to aggressively work to secure you the restitution you deserve; we are willing to go to court if necessary and will not stop working until you are satisfied with the result.
Call us today to schedule a free legal consultation with a CO lawyer in Stockton. You can ask questions about your case and we will give you the answers you need to make a smart choice about moving forward. If you choose us to represent you, our zero fee guarantee will allow you to we us no money throughout the litigation process. Our fees will only be covered if we win your case; the expenses will be taken from the settlement we bring you. If we lose, you will not have to pay us a dollar.
Reach out to our law group today to file a carbon monoxide poisoning claim.
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