(The following story appeared on The Courier-Journal website on July 28.)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Court of Appeals has upheld a 2006 lower court ruling that found that Courier-Journal coverage did not influence a Jefferson Circuit Court jury that awarded a railroad worker $1.8 million that same year after he suffered brain damage from occupational exposure to solvents.
The verdict was later reduced to $1.4 million.
“The Courier-Journal clearly provided both sides of the litigation a chance to verbalize their positions, and both sides did,” the three judge panel determined in its rejection of an appeal by CSX Transportation, Inc.
The appeals court on July 18 also found that the railroad worker’s attorney, Joe Satterley, did not improperly speak to a newspaper reporter, as the railroad company had alleged.
At issue were an article and editorial published about research from West Virginia that showed cleaning solvents used by railroad workers in the past had shrunk a part of the brain that helps one side communicate with the other. They were published during the trial of former CSX employee Terry L. Williams of Corbin, Ky.