Mesothelioma is a kind of cancer that attacks the protective lining of the body’s vital organs. In most cases, malignant cells form in the outer lining of the lungs and the inner chest wall, but the disease can attack the heart and other organs as well. Most people who contract mesothelioma are those who have worked with asbestos, and may have been exposed to asbestos fibers, dust, or particles. For more than a century, asbestos was a material for use in the construction industry. It was fire-retardant, inexpensive, and had high electrical resistivity. Now, asbestos is almost synonymous with the cause of mesothelioma.
Railroad work is one of the industrial settings where asbestos was used and exposed workers to being at risk for this kind of fatal cancer. Some railroad workers came into contact with asbestos in the course of their regular work day, creating the risk. Workers who dealt with engines, engineers who ran the trains, and shop workers like machinists also came into contact with the train engines. Often, asbestos was used in the shoes covering a train’s brakes. Boilers and boiler pipers were also insulated with asbestos. As recently as the 1980s, many railroad companies and manufacturers of train carriages still purchased and used materials made from asbestos.
Although the railroad industry knew of the dangers of asbestos, it was not until 1989 that the EPA issued a final rule that banned new use of asbestos. The fact that the railroad industry continued to use asbestos materials until the ban has led to a high percentage of rail company employees with this occupational illness which is unlikely to decline any time soon. In fact, locomotives using asbestos insulation may have been in use as late as the 1990s. This means that we will continue to see railroad related mesothelioma cases for many years to come, as mesothelioma doesn’t develop right away. The symptoms of the disease include shortness of breath, painful breathing, infections, and ultimately death. The cancer’s effects can be treated (but not cured) with surgery, chemotherapy or other radiation, drugs, draining of fluid, and sometimes even lung removal.
The railroad employers, like Norfolk Souther and CSX, may be liable under the FELA law for workers who get this terrible disease from their careers on engines or in repair shops. Sadly, many FELA mesothelioma clients do not live to get to court and the injury cases become wrongful death cases for their families.
For additional information about railroad worker mesothelioma cancer, take a look at this article written by a FELA lawyer with over two decades of experience handling asbestos-related mesothelioma cancer claims.
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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