ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604040082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
A Roanoke jury has awarded $650,000 to three retired railroad employees who were exposed to asbestos while working in dust-filled shops throughout their careers with Norfolk Southern Corp.
Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed in Roanoke by railroad workers who claim they were harmed by asbestos, but this was the first time a Roanoke Circuit Court jury had decided such a case.
After a seven-day trial that ended late Tuesday, the jury ordered the railroad to pay $300,000 to Frank E. Leftwich, $200,000 to William C. Cawley, and $150,000 to George R. Brogan. Two other men who were part of the lawsuit received no damages.
Willard Moody Jr., a Portsmouth lawyer who represented the men, said they were exposed to toxic dust that contained asbestos while working in the railroad's East End and Shaffers Crossing shops.
Norfolk Southern - corporate descendant of the Norfolk & Western Railway - has known of the danger of asbestos for half a century, Moody said. But, he said, the railroad did nothing to warn or protect its workers from asbestosis, a life-threatening lung disease.
"They will never be the same, and every breath they take will be a reminder of what the railroad did to them," Moody said of his clients.
Asbestos, a fire- and heat-resistant substance, was used as insulation and pipe wrapping on locomotives and other railroad equipment. During the railroad's steam era, the asbestos fiber was made into a paste and spread by hand over boilers.
Leftwich, Cawley and Brogan breathed the substance when it became airborne as they worked. Moody said the repair shops were so dusty that "it looked like a snowstorm" in the buildings.
Despite knowing that asbestos was dangerous, the railroad did not provide proper ventilation in buildings or give its workers protective gear, Moody said. "They did absolutely nothing," he said.
But James Jennings, a Roanoke lawyer who represented Norfolk Southern, said the railroad was not aware of the scope of the problem in the 1950s, when the plaintiffs were hired. The railroad did what it thought was necessary at the time, he said.
"We knew it was a toxic material," Jennings said. "We did not appreciate the extent of the hazard and did not think that the workers were at risk of getting the disease."
Much of the trial centered on whether the plaintiffs had proven they had asbestosis. There was conflicting medical testimony in the cases in which the jury awarded smaller damages or no damages at all.
Although asbestos has been removed from most workplaces, lawsuits still are being filed, because, in many cases, the disease does not become active until years after exposure.
Lawyers said the only other jury verdict in Roanoke involving an asbestos case against the railroad was in 1986, when a jury in U.S. District Court awarded $300,000 to a worker who was diagnosed as having early-stage asbestosis. Since then, dozens of other cases have been settled out of court.
Moody said Tuesday's verdict might affect future settlements. "But that's up to the railroad," he added.
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