LCBF successfully secured summary judgment in a Federal Employers’ Liability Act case on behalf of a railroad client. The plaintiff alleged he developed bladder cancer as a result of his work around diesel exhaust and secondhand smoke during his employment. Plaintiff retained both an industrial hygienist and an oncologist to establish causation. LCBF argued the opinions of plaintiff’s experts were insufficient to establish either general or specific causation, because 1) plaintiff’s general causation opinion was not generally accepted in the scientific community, and 2) assuming general causation were established, plaintiff failed to demonstrate he encountered sufficient amounts of diesel exhaust or secondhand smoke to have caused his illness.
The LCBF team included Vincent Mehnert, Tom Patania, Matthew Degenhardt, and Felicia Brodock.