Terms Used In Kansas Statutes > Chapter 60 > Article 49 - Silica and Asbestos

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• AMA guides to the evaluation of permanent impairment: means the American medical association's guides to the evaluation of permanent impairment as in effect on March 1, 2006. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Asbestos: means all minerals defined as asbestos in 29 C. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Asbestos claim: means any claim for damages, losses, indemnification, contribution or other relief arising out of, based on, or in anyway related to inhalation of, exposure to, ingestion of, or contact with asbestos. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Asbestosis: means bilateral diffuse interstitial fibrosis of the lungs caused by inhalation of asbestos. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Board-certified: means the physician is currently certified by one of the medical specialty boards approved by either the American board of medical specialties or the American osteopathic board of osteopathic specialties. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Board-certified internist: means a physician who is board-certified in the specialty of internal medicine. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Board-certified pathologist: means a physician who is board-certified in the specialty of pathology. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Board-certified radiologist: means a physician who is board-certified in the specialty of radiology. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Civil action: means all suits or claims of a civil nature in a state or federal court, whether cognizable as cases at law or in equity or admiralty. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Competent medical authority: means a physician who is medically competent to provide a diagnosis for purposes of constituting prima facie evidence of an exposed person's physical impairment that meets the requirements specified in Kan. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Conservator: means an individual or corporation appointed by the court to act on behalf of a conservatee and possessed of some or all of the powers and duties set out in Kan. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Employee: means an individual who performs labor or provides construction services pursuant to a construction contract as defined in Kan. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Established safety standard: means , that for the years after 1971, the concentration of silica or mixed dust in the breathing zone of the workers does not exceed the maximum allowable exposure limits for the eight-hour-time weighted average airborne concentration as promulgated by the occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) in effect at the time of the alleged exposure. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Exposed person: means a person whose exposure to:

  (1) Silica is the basis for a silica claim; or

  (2) asbestos is the basis for an asbestos claim. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901

• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• FVC: means forced vital capacity, which is the maximal volume of air expired with maximum effort from a position of full inspiration. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• ILO scale: means the system for the classification of chest x-rays set forth in the international labour office's guidelines for the use of ILO international classification of radiographs of pneumoconioses as in effect on March 1, 2006. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lung cancer: means a malignant tumor in which the primary site of origin of the cancer is inside the lungs and does not include mesothelioma. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Mesothelioma: means a malignant tumor with a primary site of origin in the pleura, the peritoneum, or pericardium, which has been diagnosed by a board-certified pathologist using standardized and accepted criteria of microscopic morphology or appropriate staining techniques. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Minor: means any person defined by Kan. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
• Nonmalignant condition: means a condition, other than a diagnosed cancer, that is caused or may be caused by either of the following, whichever is applicable:

  (1) Silica; or

  (2) asbestos. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901

• Pathological evidence of asbestosis: means a statement by a board-certified pathologist that more than one representative section of lung tissue uninvolved with any other disease process demonstrates a pattern of peribronchiolar or parenchymal scarring in the presence of characteristic asbestos bodies and that there is no other more likely explanation for the presence of the fibrosis. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Pathological evidence of silicosis: means a statement by a board-certified pathologist that more than one representative section of lung tissue uninvolved with any other disease process demonstrates a pattern of round silica nodules and birefringent crystals or other demonstration of crystal structures consistent with silica in the lung parenchyma (well-organized concentric whorls of collagen surrounded by inflammatory cells) and that there is no other more likely explanation for the presence of the fibrosis. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Predicted lower limit of normal: means the calculated standard convention lying at the fifth percentile, below the upper 95% of the reference population, based on factors including, but not limited to, age, height and gender, according to the recommendations of the American Thoracic Society as referenced in the AMA's guides to the evaluation of permanent impairment. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Premises owner: means a person who owns, in whole or in part, leases, rents, maintains or controls privately owned any land or body of water, or any buildings and structures on those lands or bodies of water, and all privately owned and state-owned lands or bodies of water leased to a private person, firm or organization, including any buildings and structures on those lands, ways or waters. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Property: includes personal and real property. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
• Radiological evidence of diffuse pleural thickening: means :

  (1) An ILO quality one or two chest x-ray, read by a competent medical authority who regularly reviews x-rays in the ordinary course of practice, that shows bilateral pleural thickening of at least B2 on the ILO scale and blunting of at least one costophrenic angle; or

  (2) a computed tomography scan or high-resolution computed tomography scan read by a competent medical authority showing evidence of diffuse pleural thickening. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901

• Regular basis: means more than an isolated or sporadic basis. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Silica: means a respirable crystalline form of silicon dioxide, including, but not limited to, alpha quartz, cristobalite and trydmite. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Silica claim: means any claim for damages, losses, indemnification, contribution or other relief arising out of, based on, or in any way related to inhalation of, exposure to, or contact with silica. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Silicosis: means an interstitial lung disease caused by the pulmonary response to inhaled silica. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
• Substantial contributing factor: means :

  (1) Exposure to silica or asbestos is the proximate cause of the physical impairment alleged in the silica or asbestos claim; and

  (2) a competent medical authority has determined with a reasonable degree of medical probability that the exposure to silica or asbestos is the proximate cause of the physical impairment. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901

• Substantial occupational exposure to silica: means employment in an industry and an occupation in which the exposed person did any of the following for a substantial portion of a normal work year for such occupation:

  (1) Handled silica;

  (2) fabricated silica-containing products so that the person was exposed to silica in the fabrication process;

  (3) altered, repaired or otherwise worked with a silica-containing product in a manner that exposed the person on a regular basis to silica;

  (4) worked in close proximity to other workers engaged in any of the activities described in paragraphs (1), (2) or (3) of this subsection in a manner that exposed the person on a regular basis to silica. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901

• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Total lung capacity: means the volume of gas contained in the lungs at the end of a maximal inspiration. See Kansas Statutes 60-4901
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.