A professional stone cutter is suing multiple companies he alleges share liability for the lung disease he acquired after years of working in the industry that installs decorative kitchen counters.
Felipe Reyes’ Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, spanning more than 50 pages, includes allegations of fraud, negligence and product liability. His wife, Rosa Reyes, alleges loss of consortium. The couple seek unspecified compensatory damages, and Felipe Reyes additionally wants an award of punitive damages.
Reyes worked as a cutter, fabricator and installer of stone products from 1988-20 at companies in Sun Valley, Glendale, North Hollywood, Anaheim and El Cajon, according to the suit brought Tuesday. In February 2023, Reyes was diagnosed with silicosis, a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust.
“Before his diagnosis in February 2023 … no doctor had ever told plaintiff Felipe Reyes that the defendants caused his lung disease, that he had silicosis (or) what was the cause of the lung disease,” the suit states.
Reyes has had extensive medical treatment due to his exposure to silica, metals and other toxins and will likely have to have a lung transplant, according to the complaint.
The companies knew or should have known that workers using the products as intended by the defendants would be left unprotected to the “indiscriminate release of toxic and carcinogenic dust and exposure to exposed persons, including plaintiff Felipe Reyes,” the suit states.