$21.8 Million FELA Verdict for Railroad Worker's Estate in Diesel-Exhaust Cancer Death

Randall Redford spent 38 years as a maintenance-of-way worker for Norfolk Southern Railway, a job that kept him in close contact with diesel exhaust day after day. In 2019, he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a blood cancer linked to prolonged exposure to diesel fumes. He underwent chemotherapy and then a stem cell transplant in 2020, achieving a remission that held for several years. The cancer returned in 2024, and Redford died shortly after.

His wife, Angela Redford, brought a wrongful-death action against the railroad on behalf of his estate under the Federal Employers Liability Act, which governs injury and death claims by railroad workers. The case was filed in Virginia state court under case number CL22011540 and tried before Judge Terry I. Adelman.

Chris Schnieders of Napoli Shkolnik, based in Overland Park, Kansas, tried the case for the plaintiff. At trial, a central issue was that Norfolk Southern had trained workers on respirator use but never actually supplied them with respirators when they were working around diesel exhaust. The railroad's defense rested almost entirely on Redford's 40-year smoking history of one to two packs per day, arguing it, not the job, caused the cancer.

The jury rejected that all-or-nothing argument. On October 9, 2025, jurors found Norfolk Southern 48 percent at fault for Redford's death. They awarded $10 million for pain and suffering, $10 million for mental anguish, and $1.8 million for medical bills, reaching a gross verdict of $21.8 million. The jury attributed the remaining 52 percent of comparative fault to Redford based on his smoking. No post-trial reduction or appeal has been reported as of the date of publication.