Ill. Supreme Court Says Miss. Railroad Worker’s Case Belongs in Miss.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. –– Saying that lower courts “failed to recognize several private and public interest factors in its analysis,” the Illinois Supreme Court has reversed an order allowing a Mississippi railroad worker to pursue his toxic exposure claims in Illinois.

The high court held Dec. 28 that the only connections between plaintiff Walter Fennell’s claims and Illinois were his counsels’ offices, one expert witness, and “accessible and transportable documents in the possession of defendant’s counsel.”

Fennell brought the claims for his alleged exposure to asbestos, diesel exhaust, sand, environmental tobacco smoke, toxic dusts, fumes and gases while employed by …