{"id":20678,"date":"2025-10-17T15:54:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T19:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/?p=20678"},"modified":"2025-10-17T15:57:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T19:57:39","slug":"napoli-shkolnik-secures-21-8-million-verdict-against-norfolk-southern-in-toxic-exposure-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/article\/napoli-shkolnik-secures-21-8-million-verdict-against-norfolk-southern-in-toxic-exposure-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Napoli Shkolnik Secures $21.8 Million Verdict Against Norfolk Southern in Toxic Exposure Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Jury Finds Railroad 48% Liable for Maintenance Worker&#8217;s Leukemia Despite Defendant&#8217;s Attempt to Blame Smoking Exclusively<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>National trial law firm Napoli Shkolnik announced a significant victory in <em>Estate of Randall Redford v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company<\/em>, with a jury awarding $21,800,000 in damages to the estate of a longtime railroad worker who developed Acute Myeloid Leukemia after decades of exposure to diesel exhaust and creosote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;The verdict, delivered by trial attorney and partner, Chris Schnieders, and supported by partner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/en\/attorneys\/patrick-haines\/\">patricio haines<\/a>, represents a major win for railroad workers seeking accountability for occupational toxic exposures. Despite Norfolk Southern&#8217;s aggressive defense strategy that sought to attribute 100% of the blame to the plaintiff&#8217;s smoking history, the jury determined the railroad was 48% responsible for Mr. Redford&#8217;s devastating illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This verdict sends a clear message that railroad companies cannot escape responsibility for exposing their workers to dangerous carcinogens by simply pointing to other risk factors,&#8221; said Chris Schnieders. &#8220;While the jury appropriately considered all contributing factors, they recognized that Norfolk Southern&#8217;s failure to protect Randall Redford from daily toxic exposures played a substantial role in his cancer diagnosis and suffering.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Case Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Randall Redford dedicated 38 years of his life to Norfolk Southern, working as a maintenance of way worker. Throughout his career, Mr. Redford was exposed daily to diesel exhaust and creosote\u2014both known carcinogens\u2014as an inherent part of his job duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2019, Mr. Redford was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and immediately began chemotherapy. His condition required a stem cell transplant in 2020, which initially resulted in remission. Tragically, the cancer recurred in 2024, and Mr. Redford passed away shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The damages awarded compensate the estate for Mr. Redford&#8217;s medical expenses, pain and suffering, and mental anguish endured from his 2019 diagnosis through 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<strong>Key Verdict Details<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The jury apportioned fault as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Norfolk Southern: 48% liable<\/strong> for occupational exposure to diesel exhaust and creosote<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Plaintiff: 52% contributory fault<\/strong> due to a 40+ year smoking history of one to two packs per day<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Critically, the jury rejected Norfolk Southern&#8217;s central defense argument that Mr. Redford&#8217;s smoking was the sole cause of his leukemia, instead recognizing the substantial role of workplace toxic exposures in causing his disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read the full press release <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/napoli-shkolnik-secures-21-8-million-verdict-against-norfolk-southern-in-toxic-exposure-case-302581136.html?tc=eml_cleartime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>aqu\u00ed<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jury Finds Railroad 48% Liable for Maintenance Worker&#8217;s Leukemia Despite Defendant&#8217;s Attempt to Blame Smoking Exclusively National trial law firm Napoli Shkolnik announced a significant victory in Estate of Randall&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[774],"tags":[861,1402,1433],"class_list":["post-20678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-napoli-shkolnik-news","tag-fela","tag-toxic-exposure","tag-fela-attorney"],"acf":[],"page_builder_type":"gutenberg","gutenberg_data":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.napolilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}