West Virginia Appellate Court Affirms Denial of Benefits to Laborer in Silica Exposure Case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. –– A West Virginia appellate court has affirmed the denial of benefits to a laborer who contended that sandblasting work exposed him to silica dust and caused his lung injury, concluding that a “preponderance of the evidence” establishes that the injury was not a result of a work-place silica exposure.

In the May 26 order, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals explained that “for an injury to be compensable it must be a personal injury that was received in the course of employment, and it must have resulted from that employment.”

Jonathan E. Auffant filed the underlying …