Silicosis from Countertop Cutting: Do You Have a Lawsuit?

If you have spent years cutting, grinding, or polishing stone countertops — and you have been diagnosed with silicosis, pulmonary fibrosis, or progressive lung disease — you may have a legal claim against the manufacturers of the engineered stone products you worked with.

This is not a speculative claim. In August 2024, a Los Angeles jury awarded $52.4 million to a 34-year-old countertop fabricator who required a double lung transplant after developing silicosis from engineered stone exposure. Cases are now being filed across the United States, and the litigation wave is just beginning outside California.

What Is Engineered Stone and Why Is It Dangerous?

Engineered stone — sold under brand names like Caesarstone, Cambria, Silestone, and others — is manufactured by crushing quartz rock and binding it with polymer resins to produce a durable, attractive countertop surface. It has become the dominant material in kitchen and bathroom renovations in the United States over the past 20 years.

The problem is the silica content. Engineered stone is composed of over 90% crystalline silica by weight. For comparison, granite contains approximately 40–50% silica, and marble contains less than 10%. When a fabricator cuts, edges, drills, or polishes engineered stone, the cutting process releases microscopic silica particles into the air. These particles — called respirable crystalline silica — are small enough to reach the deepest parts of the lungs, where they cannot be expelled.

Over time, the accumulated silica particles cause permanent scarring and inflammation of the lung tissue. This condition is called silicosis. In workers exposed to engineered stone, silicosis often develops in an accelerated form — diagnosed after just 7 to 15 years of exposure, progressing rapidly to a condition called progressive massive fibrosis that can be fatal without a lung transplant.

This Is Not Just a California Problem

The silicosis epidemic among countertop workers first became visible in California, where over 480 confirmed cases have been identified among engineered stone workers. But this is a national problem.

• In December 2025, Massachusetts health authorities confirmed the state's first silicosis diagnosis in a stone fabricator — a man in his 40s who had worked with quartz countertops for 14 years. His shop was described as very dusty, with thin surgical masks provided as the only respiratory protection.
• In 2024, federal safety inspectors found a 31-year-old Chicago worker in need of a double lung transplant after developing accelerated silicosis, with silica dust levels at his fabrication shop measured at up to six times the permissible limit.
• Cases have been filed in Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, and other states as the epidemic is recognised outside its California epicentre.

The NPR and other national media coverage that has recently emerged — citing over 550 ill workers in California alone — is just the beginning. Epidemiologists are clear that this is not a California-specific problem. Workers in countertop fabrication shops across every US state face the same exposures.

Who Is Most at Risk?

You may be at risk if you have worked in any of the following roles and regularly worked with engineered stone or quartz countertop products:

• Countertop fabricator — cutting, shaping, edging, and polishing stone slabs
• Stone installer — cutting countertops to fit on-site in kitchens and bathrooms
• Construction or renovation worker with regular stone cutting duties
• Worker at a stone fabrication shop or stone yard

The risk is especially high if your workplace used dry cutting without water suppression, had inadequate ventilation, or provided insufficient respiratory protection — conditions common in small fabrication shops, which make up the majority of the industry.

Symptoms to Watch For

Many workers with silicosis do not know they have it until the disease is already advanced. The symptoms are often dismissed as minor respiratory issues:

• Persistent cough that does not go away
• Shortness of breath — initially during physical activity, later at rest
• Fatigue and reduced ability to exercise or work
• Weight loss in more severe cases

If you have worked in stone fabrication for several years and are experiencing any of these symptoms, see a doctor immediately and request a chest CT scan and pulmonary function testing. Tell your doctor about your work history. Early diagnosis gives you more options — both medically and legally.

Why the Manufacturers Are Liable

Engineered stone manufacturers have known for years — based on international data from Australia, Spain, Israel, and the United States — that their products pose a serious silicosis risk to fabrication workers. Despite this knowledge, many manufacturers:

• Failed to provide adequate warnings on their products about the silicosis risk
• Failed to require or promote safe fabrication practices including wet cutting, ventilation, and proper respiratory protection
• Continued to market their products to fabricators without disclosing documented health risks

Evidence presented in California litigation has shown that some manufacturers had access to international data on silicosis clusters among stone workers years before cases emerged in the United States. Claims of fraudulent concealment have been central to several of the major lawsuits.

What Compensation Is Available?

Victims of engineered stone silicosis may be entitled to compensation for:

• Past and future medical expenses — including hospitalisation, pulmonary treatment, and lung transplant costs
• Lost wages and loss of earning capacity — silicosis frequently forces workers out of their trades permanently
• Pain and suffering — silicosis is a progressive, irreversible, and often fatal disease
• Wrongful death damages — if a family member has died from silicosis
• Punitive damages — in cases involving evidence of fraudulent concealment of known risks

Important: workers' compensation claims against your employer do not prevent you from filing a separate product liability lawsuit against the manufacturers of the engineered stone. These are separate legal claims and can be pursued at the same time.

A Note on Our Firm's Approach

Edward A. Jazlowiecki holds both a law degree and a degree in chemical engineering. This background gives our firm a scientific understanding of how respirable crystalline silica behaves in the lung, what exposure levels are dangerous, and how the failure to implement industrial hygiene controls translates into legal liability — knowledge that most personal injury attorneys simply do not have.

This is the same technical foundation that has underpinned our 50+ years of mesothelioma and asbestos litigation. Silicosis from engineered stone is, in many ways, the asbestos story repeating itself — a known hazard, suppressed by industry, now emerging as a mass tort that will affect tens of thousands of workers across the country.

How Long Do You Have to File?

The statute of limitations for silicosis claims varies by state — generally two to three years from the date of diagnosis or from the date you knew or reasonably should have known that your lung condition was work-related. Because the disease has a long latency period, the clock typically runs from the time of diagnosis rather than from the start of your exposure.

Do not wait. Contact an attorney as soon as you receive a diagnosis. Evidence — employer records, air monitoring data, the specific stone products you worked with — needs to be preserved early.

Contact Us for a Free Case Evaluation

Jazlowiecki & Jazlowiecki LLC represents workers diagnosed with silicosis and related lung conditions nationally. We handle these cases on a contingency fee basis — you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. If you or a family member have been diagnosed with silicosis after working with stone countertops, contact us for a free, confidential case evaluation.

Diagnosed with silicosis or a lung condition after working with stone countertops? Contact Jazlowiecki & Jazlowiecki LLC for a free case evaluation. Call (860) 589-8000 — available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No fee unless we win.