Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP’s product liability and mass tort litigation team, which is ranked as a top national practice in Chambers USA (2024) and The Legal 500 (2024), has extensive experience defending toxic tort cases involving products liability, premises liability and wrongful death claims for alleged exposure to crystalline silica. We serve as national coordinating counsel and lead trial counsel for numerous nationally known companies in product liability and other tort litigation involving alleged silica exposure. We also advise major corporate clients in all aspects of product development and manufacturing, workplace exposure, environmental regulation and risk mitigation associated with crystalline silica, including advice regarding OSHA and MSHA compliance and best practices for SDSs, warnings and exposure prevention.  

Our representative silica experience includes:

• Serve as national coordinating counsel for silica and asbestos litigation for an affiliate of a major oil and gas company.
• Served as national coordinating counsel for a respiratory protective equipment manufacturer in mass claims alleging that their products failed to adequately protect against free silica exposure during sandblasting operations.   
• Defended a large sand supplier against hundreds of silica-related product liability claims.
• Successfully obtained a dismissal for one of the largest industrial employers in Virginia in a multi-million-dollar silica and mixed-dust lawsuit.
• Negotiated numerous favorable settlements and obtained dismissals in silica cases for major international oil and gas company.
• Advise several Fortune 500 employers and manufacturers regarding OSHA compliance and pre-litigation risk mitigation associated with silica dust.