Court Allows CSX Engineer to Move Ahead With Claim for Toxic Fumes Exposure

HAMMOND, Ind. — A federal judge in Indiana has denied summary judgment sought by CSX Transportation Inc. in a railroad engineer’s suit alleging accidental exposure to harmful fumes, saying there are substantial factual disputes to be resolved.

Judge Jon E. DeGuilio of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana issued his decision Nov. 21 in the lawsuit brought by Nicholas Howell.

Howell, who sued under the Federal Employees’ Liability Act, alleges that he was overcome while his locomotive was passing through a hazardous cloud of fumes on Feb. 3, 2009. He says that he was operating the …