Rail Worker's $2.6 Million Award for Diesel Injuries Upheld on Appeal

TOLEDO - Ohio's Sixth Appellate District has affirmed a $2.6 million jury award for a railroad engineer who claimed that exposure to diesel exhaust led to asthma and forced his premature retirement. Battaglia v. Conrail, et al., No. L-08-1332 (Ohio Ct. App., 6th Dist.).

The District Court of Appeals rejected points of error raised by the Consolidated Rail Corp. (Conrail), including the trial court's decision to allow testimony by two medical experts linking Francis Battaglia's asthma symptoms to diesel exhaust.

Conrail employed Battaglia from 1976 to 1979, and from 1988 and 2007, when he left on medical leave after a …