Appellate Court Rejects CSX Transportation’s Attempts to Paint Asbestos Plaintiff as “Smoker” under Ohio Law

CLEVELAND –– For the third time, an Ohio appellate court has looked at a dispute over whether an asbestos plaintiff could be considered a “smoker” under Ohio law, finally determining that the trial court had sufficient evidence to support its conclusion that the decedent did not meet the statutory definition of a smoker.

In the March 7 ruling, the Ohio 8th District Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County upheld the lower court’s decision to deny CSX Transportation Inc.’s (NYSE:CSX) motion for administrative dismissal of the underlying claims.

CSX Transportation appealed a lower court’s denial of its motion for …