Legionnaires’ Disease Lawsuits & Compensation

Understanding Your Legal Rights and Potential Recovery

If you’ve been sickened by Legionnaires’ disease due to someone else’s negligence, you have the right to seek justice through a Legionnaires’ disease lawsuit. Taking legal action not only holds the responsible party accountable – it can also provide you with much-needed financial compensation for the hardships you’ve endured. This page will walk you through how these lawsuits work and what types of compensation (damages) you may be entitled to.

Why File a Legionnaires’ Disease Lawsuit?

A lawsuit might be the last thing on your mind when you’re recovering from a serious illness. But consider this:

Medical bills for treating Legionnaires’ disease can be enormous. A hospital ICU stay, antibiotics, potential surgeries for complications – these costs add up fast.
You or your loved one might have lost income during the recovery, or even lost a job if the illness caused long-term health issues.
There is real pain and suffering involved – both physically (pneumonia is extremely painful and debilitating) and emotionally (it’s traumatic to battle a life-threatening illness).
In the worst cases, families are left with the wrongful death of a loved one, with emotional trauma and financial loss (loss of that person’s future earnings).

All of these losses are what a civil lawsuit can address. Through a Legionnaires’ lawsuit, you can demand compensation (money damages) from the parties at fault for causing the Legionella exposure. While no amount of money erases what happened, it serves two critical purposes: it helps you rebuild and move forward, and it pressures those at fault (and others in their industry) to improve safety.

Also, a lawsuit is often the only way to get full answers. Companies may not volunteer details of what went wrong. In litigation, our lawyers can obtain internal documents and depose witnesses to uncover the truth – like if a hotel skipped maintenance checks or a hospital ignored positive Legionella tests. That accountability is powerful.

Who Can Be Held Accountable (Who Do You Sue)?

Legionnaires’ disease cases usually fall under the legal concept of premises liability or negligence. Essentially, owners and operators of property have a duty to keep their premises reasonably safe, which includes the water system. If they fail in that duty and it causes harm, they can be liable. Depending on the situation, potential defendants in a Legionnaires’ case may include:

Property Owners and Managers: For example, the hotel company if you were exposed at a hotel, or the nursing home company for a senior living outbreak. They have primary responsibility for maintenance.
Maintenance Companies or Water Treatment Contractors: Sometimes the property hires an outside firm to manage their cooling tower or water treatment. If that company did a poor job (e.g., didn’t add chemicals they were contracted to add), they could share liability.
Manufacturers or Installers (in rare cases): If a particular device caused the outbreak due to a defect – say a hot tub had a design flaw that fostered bacteria growth – there might be a products liability angle. But typically, it’s maintenance, not product design, that’s the issue.
Development or Construction Firms: In some cases, if a building’s design was fundamentally Legionella-prone (like a poorly designed plumbing system that allowed stagnant “dead legs” of pipe), the architects or engineers might bear some responsibility. This is less common and usually only pursued if there’s clear evidence the outbreak was mostly a design flaw rather than maintenance.

Often, multiple parties are named. For instance, in a hotel outbreak, our firm might sue both the hotel owner and the water treatment service they hired, letting the facts and legal discovery determine who was more at fault or if both share fault.

Proving a Legionnaires’ Disease Claim

To win a lawsuit, we generally have to prove the following elements (legal requirements):

You were exposed to Legionella bacteria at the defendant’s location. We establish this with evidence like your medical diagnosis (showing Legionella in your system) and tracing your movements. If a health department identified the source, that’s strong proof. If not, we might use experts to look into the water systems involved or to do statistical analysis if it’s a cluster of cases.
The exposure was due to the defendant’s negligence. Negligence means the defendant didn’t take reasonable care. Here, that usually means they failed to maintain a safe water system. We show what they did wrong – for instance, no water management plan, skipped cleanings, ignored test results, etc. We often rely on industry standards: if virtually all reasonable hotel operators hyperchlorinate a pool weekly and this hotel hadn’t in months, that’s clear negligence.
That negligence caused your illness. We need to link the cause (Legionella exposure at site X) to the effect (you getting Legionnaires’ disease). Timing helps (symptoms 2-10 days after visiting the site), as does ruling out other sources. If you were part of an outbreak where multiple people got sick from the same place, causation may be easier to determine. If you’re a single (sporadic) case, we gather as much evidence as possible that points to the site (perhaps water samples from the site tested positive, etc.).
You suffered damages. This part is usually clear – medical records, bills, proof of time off work, etc., show the impact on you. We also use testimony (from you, family, doctors) to convey the pain, suffering, and life disruption the illness caused.

The good news is Legionnaires’ disease is an objectively verified illness (typically diagnosed with a lab test). So unlike some cases where it’s hard to prove someone was harmed, here we have solid proof of illness. The key battles are often around points 1 and 2: was the defendant actually the source, and were they actually negligent? That’s where our focus lies in building your case with scientific and factual evidence.

What Compensation Can You Receive?

Victims of Legionnaires’ disease (or their families) can seek several types of damages in a lawsuit:

Medical Expenses: All related bills – hospital stays, ER visits, doctor consultations, medication, rehabilitation, medical equipment, etc. If you will need ongoing care or medication due to lingering effects (for example, some survivors have long-term respiratory issues or neurological damage), we project those future medical costs too and include them.
Lost Income and Earning Capacity: The wages lost while you were too sick to work, and if the illness left you with a disability that affects your ability to work in the future, we claim compensation for the reduction in your earning capacity. For instance, if a person cannot return to their high-paying job because of lung damage, the responsible party should make up that financial loss.
Pain and Suffering: Legionnaires’ disease can be excruciating and terrifying. The law allows compensation for the physical pain and the emotional distress endured. This is not a bill you can tally, but attorneys often look at the severity and duration of the illness to argue for a fair amount. If someone had a prolonged hospital course, needed ventilator support, or experienced delirium from fever, those are significant suffering factors.
Loss of Enjoyment or Disability: If the illness caused lasting impairment – maybe you can’t exercise like before, or you have chronic fatigue or cognitive issues – that loss of quality of life can be compensated. We would highlight how life changed from before the illness to after.
Wrongful Death Damages: In cases of death, eligible family members (this varies by state, usually spouse and children, sometimes parents) can recover damages. These include funeral and burial expenses, the deceased’s medical bills, the loved one’s lost future income and benefits, and the survivors’ loss of companionship, guidance, and support. Essentially, it tries to monetarily quantify the hole left in the family’s life. While nothing truly fills it, it’s aimed at easing financial burdens and acknowledging the profound loss.
Punitive Damages: In some cases, if the conduct was grossly negligent or reckless, a jury could award punitive damages on top of the compensatory damages above. Punitive damages punish the wrongdoer. For Legionnaires’, this might apply if, say, a hotel knowingly disabled a safety system or falsified records to avoid maintenance costs. These situations are rarer, but if evidence shows a deliberate disregard for safety, we may be able to pursue punitive damages.

To give a sense of scale, settlements and verdicts in Legionnaires’ cases have ranged widely – from tens of thousands to multiple millions of dollars. Factors that influence the value include the severity of illness (mild recovery vs. death), the number of victims (sometimes cases are handled collectively if many people are affected by the same outbreak), and the level of negligence. A major outbreak with several deaths caused by egregious safety lapses will draw higher awards than a single mild case, for example.

Our team will fight for every dollar you deserve. We often work with economists and life care planners for serious cases to calculate future losses, ensuring that any settlement or verdict accounts for long-term needs. We also gather evidence of your pain/suffering via personal statements or expert evaluations if needed, to make those damages real and not just an abstract number.

How Long Does a Legionnaires’ Lawsuit Take?

Understandably, clients want to know how quickly they can get compensation. The timeline can vary:

Investigation stage: We first thoroughly investigate and often try to negotiate with the responsible party’s insurance once we have strong evidence. Sometimes, if liability is clear (for instance, a health department report squarely puts blame on a hotel’s spa), the insurance company might opt to settle relatively early to avoid bad publicity. Early settlements might happen within months of the outbreak.
Filing and discovery: If a fair settlement isn’t offered, we file a lawsuit. From filing to trial can take a year or two, depending on the court’s schedule and complexity. In this phase, both sides exchange information (discovery). We get maintenance logs, internal emails, deposition testimony, etc. This is where our firm’s experience with complex litigation shines – we know what to look for and how to pressure defendants to produce evidence.
Resolution: Many cases settle before trial, often after discovery when the evidence is on the table. We will of course consult with you on any settlement offers. We only recommend settling if it’s a just offer that fully compensates you (or comes very close and you prefer certainty). If no acceptable offer comes, we are fully prepared to go to trial. We have seasoned trial attorneys who have won cases in court, so we won’t hesitate to present your case to a jury if that’s what it takes.

Some legal cases can drag on, but we strive to move Legionnaires’ cases efficiently, because we know victims need resources sooner rather than later. We also prioritize clear communication – you’ll get updates as the case progresses, and you can always reach out with questions.

Our Track Record and How We Can Help You

Our Legionnaires’ disease lawyers have successfully handled cases like yours. We’ve taken on hotels, cruise lines, apartment landlords, hospital systems and many many other neglect parties – and we’ve won millions for our clients. For example:

We secured a $3.75 million settlement for a client who was hospitalized for two months after a Legionella exposure at a hotel. That settlement covered his medical costs and ensured he had financial stability after the long recovery.
We obtained a $6.45 million settlement on behalf of three people sickened in a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at a resort hotel.
We obtained a $6 million settlement on behalf of six people impacted by a Legionnaires” disease outbreak linked to a resort hot tub.
We obtained a $3 million settlement on behalf of the family of a woman who died after contracting Legionnaires’ Disease.
We’re are currently representing victims in ongoing outbreaks – our team stays at the forefront of Legionnaires’ litigation.

When you hire us, you gain a whole team of advocates. We handle the heavy lifting:

Investigating the source and gathering evidence (with experts as needed).
Dealing with insurance companies (who often try to lowball victims).
Filing all legal paperwork and meeting court deadlines.
Keeping you informed and prepared (if you need to give a deposition, we’ll be right there with you).
Negotiating aggressively for a settlement, but preparing meticulously for trial if needed.

And remember: no fees upfront. We work on a contingency fee, meaning our payment comes as a percentage of the settlement or judgment. If we don’t recover money for you, you owe us nothing. This aligns our interests completely with yours – we only win when you win, and the more you win, the better.

Take the Next Step

The aftermath of a Legionnaires’ disease diagnosis is overwhelming – physically, emotionally, and financially. A lawsuit might seem daunting, but that’s why we’re here. Our job is to make the legal process as easy as possible for you, while zealously advocating for your rights.

If you’re considering a Legionnaires’ disease lawsuit or even just curious about your options, reach out to us for a free consultation. We will give you an honest evaluation of your case. If we believe we can help, and you choose to work with us, you can trust that your case is in experienced and caring hands.

Contact us today at 1-888-377-8900 or through our online form to discuss your Legionnaires’ case and possible compensation. Justice is possible – let us fight for it on your behalf.