Cases
Representative Engagements: Obtained defense verdict in Maryl
trial court for Class 1 railroad in FELA case brought by living, former railroad employee suffering from malignant mesothelioma who alleged that asbestos exposure while employed by the railroad caused his cancer. Argued successfully for affirmance of defense verdict in the Maryl
Court of Special Appeals. Plummer v. CSXT, Circuit Court of Maryl
for Alleghany County, C07-29379-F.
Obtained favorable settlement during trial of FELA case alleging asbestos-related malignant mesothelioma contracted as a result of an employee's railroad employment. Preissler v. CSXT, Case No. 24-X-12-000958, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryl
.
Obtained dismissals or favorable settlements in 350 toxic exposure cases against a Class 1 railroad when cases rem
ed en masse from the Federal MDL to U.S. District Courts throughout the Southeast.
Argued for
obtained favorable language regarding the scope of a railroad's duty to non-employees alleging toxic exposures from railroad in Supreme Court of Alabama. 23 So 3d 625, 635 (Ala. 2009) (Murdock, J., concurring).
On behalf of a Class 1 railroad defendant,
on a certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, obtained unanimous ruling from the Supreme Court of Georgia that an employer owed no duty to third-party, non-employees who came into contact with its employees' asbestos-tainted work clothing away from the workplace. Williams, et al, v. CSX Transportation, 278 Ga. 888, 608 S.E. 2d 208,
subsequent summary judgment for the defendant in U.S.D.C. for the Southern District of Georgia.
Served as lead trial counsel in 3500+ separate toxic exposure related FELA personal injury lawsuits against Class 1 railroads filed in federal
state courts throughout the Mid-Atlantic
Southern states.
Obtained orders excluding plaintiffs' industrial hygiene experts, their data,
their exposure simulations in toxic exposure cases in U.S.D.C., Southern District of Georgia (Lear, et al., v. CSX Transportation, Civil Action No. 591-015)
in the Circuit Court for Duval County, Florida (Tyre, et al, v. CSX Transportation, Case Number 16-2001-CA-8235).
Obtained reversal of a Tennessee jury's adverse verdict on inadequate jury charge grounds in the Supreme Court of the United States, Hensley v. CSX Transportation, 556 U.S. 838 (2009).
Participated in the design
execution of a comprehensive industrial hygiene study of the potential for asbestos exposure during routine diesel locomotive maintenance. See Characterizing
Communicating Risk with Exposure Reconstruction
Bayesian Analysis: Historical Locomotive Maintenance/Repair Associated with Asbestos Woven Tape Pipe Lagging, Boelter, et al, Risk Analysis, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2016.
Obtained a defense verdict for a Class 1 railroad in FELA case alleging that a long-term, living employee developed lung cancer from toxic exposures while employed by the railroad. Dickens v. CSX Transportation, Superior Court of Nash County, North Carolina, CA 01CVS1785.
Obtained a defense verdict in FELA lung cancer death case brought against a Class 1 railroad by the estate of a former employee who alleged toxic exposures during his railroad employment caused his cancer. Beverly Birkle, Ind.
as Representative of the Estate of Thomas Birkle, v. BNSF Railway, in the Circuit Court of Tarrant County Texas, Case No. 342-272324-14.
Favorable settlement obtained on behalf of Class 1 railroad following successful Daubert challenge to plaintiff's medical experts in lung cancer, wrongful death case brought by widow of former twenty-eight-year railroad employee in Tennessee Circuit Court in Alley v. CSX Transportation, Circuit Court of Davidson County, Docket No. 11C3609.
Favorable post-trial settlement obtained in wrongful death action alleging former employee's malignant mesothelioma
death were caused by exposures at a Class 1 railroad. McElwain v. Union Pacific Railroad, in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California, McElwain v. Union Pacific, Case No. BC546962.
Defense verdict obtained on behalf of Class 1 railroad in the Superior Court for New Hanover County, North Carolina, in FELA case brought by former railroad employee alleging on-the-job toxic exposures caused his lung disease. Bobby G. Hickman v. CSX Transportation, Superior Court of New Hanover County, North Carolina, Case No. CVO1724.
Defense verdict obtained on behalf of Class 1 railroad in Augusta, Georgia, in FELA case brought by forty-two-year railroad employee alleging on-the-job toxic exposures caused him lung injury. Leslie Towns v. CSX Transportation, Superior Court of Richmond County, Georgia, Case No. 97-RCCV-422.
Obtained defense verdict in FELA case alleging plaintiff's esophageal cancer was caused by toxic exposures working for a Class 1 railroad. Clyde Varnadore v. CSX Transportation, Circuit Court of Duval County, Florida, Case No. 2-07566 CA.
Co-authored Amicus Brief on cancer issues to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Association of American Railroads in Norfolk & Western R. Co. v. Ayers, 538 U.S. 135 (2003).
Obtained summary judgment for a Class 1 railroad on causation issues in a mesothelioma case brought under the FELA by a former railroad employee in U.S.D.C. for the Southern District of Georgia (CV298-1). Argued for
obtained affirmance of summary judgment in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Betty Whitt v. CSX Transportation (U.S.D.C. SD Ga. CV 298-1).
In Federal MDL Docket No. 875, argued for
obtained summary judgment on causation grounds in FELA case against a Class 1 railroad where the plaintiff contended his lung disease was caused by toxic exposures working for the railroad. Case subsequently dismissed by the District Court. Carter, et al, v. CSX Transportation, 2012 WL 1231840.
