(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on the Traffic World website on February 27, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nebraska’s Supreme Court dealt a setback to BNSF Railway, saying a lower court erred by rejecting the expert witness of a plaintiff who argued that his cancer was probably caused by exposure to locomotive diesel exhaust.
The Associated Press said the state high court on Feb. 27 overturned both the Nebraska Court of Appeals and the original Douglas County District Court decisions.
The case involves a longtime BNSF brakeman who died of cancer in 2002. The case is now pursued by his wife.
A BNSF spokeswoman, Suanne Lundsberg, said both the trial court and appellate court had backed BNSF’s motion “that excluded the plaintiff’s medical causation expert for not meeting established scientific standards.”
She said the Supreme Court ruled, instead, that the trial court “applied an inappropriate standard in excluding the expert” and must reconsider that testimony.
BNSF can still contest it and the underlying case, though, and Lundsberg said the company does not believe it or predecessor railroads contributed to the brakeman’s illness.
“While BNSF is disappointed with this development, we still intend to vigorously defend this case,” she said.