(The following appeared on the Memphis Daily News website on April 25.)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Eleven lawsuits recently have been filed in Shelby County Circuit Court by former Illinois Central Railroad Co. employees from Memphis alleging asbestos exposure, according to The Daily News Online, www.memphisdailynews.com. The number adds to the dozens that have been filed in recent years.
The lawsuits filed April 17 allege the railroad company violated the Federal Locomotive Boiler Inspection Act and the Federal Employers Liability Act by exposing the workers at the two Illinois Central rail yards in South Memphis to locomotives contaminated with asbestos or asbestos products, diesel exhaust fumes, silica and “environmental tobacco smoke.”
Illinois Central was bought by Canadian National Railway Co. in 1998, but all of the plaintiffs in the latest batch of lawsuits worked for the railroad before the sale.
Jones & Granger Attorneys at Law of Little Rock filed the 11 suits. The suits seek an unspecified amount of damages.
Several law firms periodically over the last two years have filed lawsuits against Illinois Central making the same claim. Nearly a hundred lawsuits have been filed locally making the same or similar claims.