Cambria Company LLC, one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of engineered quartz surfaces, is facing hundreds of lawsuits from countertop fabrication workers who say exposure to silica dust while cutting and polishing artificial stone caused severe and sometimes fatal lung disease.
The litigation is part of a much broader wave of cases involving engineered-stone manufacturers and distributors. By August 2026, more than 600 workers had reportedly sued Cambria and other stone companies after being diagnosed with silicosis. Cambria denies that its products are defective and argues that the disease results primarily from unsafe fabrication practices at independent countertop shops.
Why Workers Are Suing Cambria
Engineered quartz countertops contain crystalline silica. Cutting, grinding, drilling and polishing the slabs can release extremely small particles of respirable crystalline silica into the air.
When inhaled repeatedly, this dust can cause silicosis, an incurable disease in which lung tissue becomes permanently scarred. Some artificial-stone workers have developed aggressive forms of the disease while still relatively young, and several have required lung transplants.
Plaintiffs generally argue that manufacturers knew or should have known about the risks and failed to provide adequate warnings or design safer products.
Claims filed against Cambria and other manufacturers have included negligence, defective design, failure to warn, misrepresentation and conspiracy allegations. A federal court reviewing a related insurance dispute noted that around 400 bodily-injury lawsuits involving Cambria and other manufacturers had already been filed by late 2025.
$52.4 Million Reyes-Gonzalez Verdict
The most important early verdict came in Gustavo Reyes-Gonzalez v. Caesarstone USA, Cambria Company LLC, Color Marble Inc., et al.
Gustavo Reyes Gonzalez spent approximately 15 years working with artificial-stone slabs in Southern California. He developed accelerated silicosis and eventually underwent a double-lung transplant.
He sued numerous manufacturers and suppliers. Most defendants settled or left the case before trial, leaving Cambria, Caesarstone USA and Color Marble to face the jury.
On August 7, 2024, a Los Angeles County jury awarded Reyes Gonzalez approximately $52.4 million in damages. The jury found Cambria and the other remaining defendants liable on various claims. Cambria was assigned 10% of the responsibility for his injuries.
The verdict was significant because it was the first major U.S. jury verdict holding engineered-stone manufacturers responsible in a worker silicosis case.
Cambria disputes the decision and has argued that its quartz products can be fabricated safely when appropriate workplace controls are followed. The company is appealing the verdict.
Cambria Wins a California Silicosis Trial
Not every case has gone against the company.
In May 2025, a California jury returned a defense verdict in favor of Cambria and other defendants in another engineered-stone silicosis case.
The jury concluded that the products involved were not defectively designed. The plaintiffs appealed that outcome.
The conflicting California verdicts demonstrate one of the central issues in the litigation: whether responsibility belongs primarily with slab manufacturers or with fabrication businesses that control workers’ day-to-day exposure to silica dust.
$17.45 Million Colorado Verdict
Cambria faced another major trial in Colorado in 2026.
Tyler Jordan began working at his family’s countertop fabrication business when he was young and spent roughly a decade cutting and working with engineered stone. He was diagnosed with silicosis and silica-related kidney disease at age 28.
Jordan and his wife sued several manufacturers.
On April 30, 2026, a Denver jury awarded approximately $17.45 million in total damages.
The result was mixed for Cambria. Jurors found that Cambria was not negligent and that its quartz products were not defective. However, they found the company liable under a misrepresentation theory and allocated 32% of the responsibility to Cambria.
The majority of responsibility—63%—was placed on Jordan’s family fabrication company, while additional fault was allocated to Jordan and another manufacturer.
Cambria is appealing that verdict as well.
New Medical Monitoring Class Action
The litigation expanded in January 2026 with a different type of lawsuit.
Five workers filed Cano v. Architectural Surfaces Group LLC, et al. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Cambria, Caesarstone, Arizona Tile, MSI, Hyundai L&C and several other quartz manufacturers and suppliers were named as defendants.
Unlike workers who have already developed silicosis, the plaintiffs seek medical monitoring for California workers allegedly exposed to artificial-stone dust but who may not yet have been diagnosed with silica-related disease.
The proposed class action seeks funding for ongoing health screening designed to detect silicosis and other diseases at an earlier stage. Cambria joined industry defendants seeking dismissal of the complaint during 2026.
Cambria Says Fabrication Shops Are Responsible
Cambria strongly rejects the broader theory behind the lawsuits.
The company maintains that engineered quartz can be safely fabricated when businesses follow required workplace protections such as wet cutting, ventilation, respiratory protection and dust-control procedures.
Cambria argues that it does not employ the workers filing these lawsuits and does not control the independent fabrication shops where exposure occurs.
Company officials have therefore argued that unsafe employers, rather than slab manufacturers, should bear primary responsibility when workers are exposed to dangerous concentrations of silica dust.
Workers and their attorneys take the opposite position. They argue that manufacturers introduced high-silica products into the marketplace and should bear responsibility for designing safer products and adequately warning the workers who would inevitably cut and grind them.
Where the Cambria Silicosis Litigation Stands
As of September 2026, Cambria has not reached a nationwide settlement resolving its silicosis cases, and there is no national federal multidistrict litigation covering all Cambria claims.
Instead, hundreds of worker cases continue individually or through coordinated state-court proceedings, particularly in California.
The trial results have also been mixed: Cambria has faced major adverse verdicts in the Reyes-Gonzalez and Jordan cases but has also obtained a complete defense verdict in another California trial.
With hundreds of additional cases still unresolved, future trials and appellate decisions will determine whether engineered-stone manufacturers can continue to shift responsibility toward fabrication shops or whether courts increasingly hold manufacturers responsible for silica-related illnesses suffered by countertop workers.
