A McLean County jury has awarded a total of $1.7 million in damages in two separate claims related to asbestos exposure by workers at a former Bloomington railroad yard. Jim Smith, who developed asbestosis following his employment from 1955 to 1958 at a west side facility operated by the former GM&O Railroad, was awarded $1.3 million in the lawsuit filed against the Illinois Central Railroad Co. In a separate claim combined with the Smith case for a single, three-week trial, Mary Hernandez, administrator of the estate of her father, John Nafziger, was awarded $384,000. According to the lawsuit, Nafziger worked for the GM&O, a predecessor to Illinois Central Railroad, in 1949-1950 and again from 1969 to 1972. He developed asbestosis and lung cancer and died in September 2007. Handling the case for the two plaintiffs were James Wylder and Lisa Corwin, with Bloomington’s Wylder Corwin Kelly LLP. The railroad was represented by the St. Louis firm of Boyle Brasher LLC. The asbestos case was filed under the Federal Employers Liability Act that covers on-the-job injuries of railroad workers. The McLean County jury found the railroad knew about, but failed to warn, the two workers about the hazards of asbestos in the workplace.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 18:12:54 +0000
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