Diesel Exhaust Exposure: Filing Suit Against Big Rail Companies

McArdle Frost are protecting the rights of a worker suffering from diesel exhaust exposure

Date: January 9, 2017

McArdle Frost recently filed suit against Consolidated Rail Corporation, and its predecessor Railroads, Penn Central and Pennsylvania Railroad, on behalf of a former engineer who developed bladder cancer due to diesel exhaust exposure. The firm filed this important case in Cook County, Illinois.

Ignoring Employees’ Heathy and Safety

A case of diesel exhaust exposure at the Chicago Rail Yards

According to the lead personal injury attorney on this case, Timothy I. McArdle, the legal claim is based upon two government statutes: the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) and the Locomotive Inspection Act (LIA), both of which require the railroads to maintain and repair its locomotives to prevent diesel exhaust from entering the working area of the locomotive engines.

Despite these federal statutes aimed at creating a safe working environment for rail workers, the firm’s client was knowingly exposed and subjected to thick plumes of diesel exhaust from 1965 through 1991, as he worked in and around the train engines in the Chicago Rail Yards.

Health Hazards of Diesel Exhaust Exposure

Evidence now shows that since the 1950’s the railroad industry, including Pennsylvania Railroad, and Consolidated Rail Corporation, knew that diesel exhaust exposure posed significant health risks to its employees. Diesel exhaust in general, and many of its individual components are now classified by the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer as carcinogens.

Despite knowing the risks of diesel exhaust exposure, the railroad companies deliberately failed to warn their employees, or take any steps to minimize or prevent the exposure.

Protecting the Rights of Workers

A personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Tim McArdle grew up on Chicago’s South Side, the nation’s railway hub. Tim appreciates the plight of workers exposed to the harmful effects of diesel exhaust. He is aggressively defending the rights of a man exposed to such harm for over 25 years.

If you’ve suffered diesel exhaust exposure, we invite you to contact Tim McArdle on 312-372-0500. Tim and his colleagues would happy to sit down with you for free to discuss the details of your case.

(Photo by Ken Lund.)

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