Black Lung Disease Claims — the Real Route in Georgia
Black lung — pneumoconiosis caused by dust — affects workers in the mining and energy sectors. It must be said plainly as a first step: Georgia has no separate federal-style compensation scheme for this disease — such schemes are an institution of other countries. The real route under Georgian law is an ordinary tort claim: Article 992 — a person who causes damage to another by an unlawful, intentional or negligent act is obliged to compensate it; and Article 997 — the employer answers for his employee's unlawful act committed in the performance of service duties. Labour-safety questions are regulated by other legislation; the civil claim compensates the damage at its real scale.
The Employer's Liability — Article 997
Article 997 provides: a person is obliged to compensate the damage which his employee caused to a third person by an unlawful act in the performance of his labour (service) duties — and no liability arises if the employee acted without fault. In dusty production this construction works where the damage was caused by the unlawful act of another person involved in the production process — a manager or technical staff: refusal of protective equipment, breach of ventilation rules or disregard of safety instructions. The general fault rule (Article 992) covers the case where the management of the dust source is directly unprotected through the enterprise's fault. Choosing correctly between these two norms is the first strategic decision of the case.
Remember also: in applying Article 997 the figure of the "third person" is broad — a worker injured within the service process also falls within this circle of persons when the damage is caused by another employee's act. Therefore, in building the case it matters who was in which role in the process, and this distribution is established through documents — the brigade composition, the instructions and the shift records.
Non-Pecuniary Damage — Article 413
Pneumoconiosis is a prolonged and irreversible disease: chronic restriction of breathing, deterioration of the quality of life and pain exist before any material expense. Article 413 provides that monetary compensation for non-pecuniary damage may be claimed only in the cases precisely defined by law, as reasonable and fair compensation — and in cases of bodily injury or harm to health the victim may make such a claim. A victim of black lung disease claims compensation for physical and moral suffering exactly on this norm, and substantiating the amount is where medical and legal argumentation meet.