Thirty-Eight Years of Service: Diesel Exhaust, Creosote, and a $21.8 Million FELA Verdict
By Paul E. Rosenfeld, M.S., Ph.D., Principal Environmental Chemist, RoseyFields LLC, Santa Monica, California
A maintenance-of-way career and a leukemia diagnosis
Randall Redford spent 38 years as a maintenance-of-way employee for Norfolk Southern Railway Company, work that placed him in daily proximity to diesel-powered locomotives and equipment and to creosote-treated railroad ties. Dr. Paul E. Rosenfeld, M.S., Ph.D. of RoseyFields LLC served as an expert witness at trial in the resulting FELA action after Mr. Redford developed acute myeloid leukemia (Redford, 2025).
The jury’s finding
A jury found Norfolk Southern 48% liable under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act for causing Mr. Redford’s leukemia through decades of occupational exposure to diesel exhaust and creosote, awarding $21.8 million in damages for medical costs, pain and suffering, and mental anguish spanning diagnosis through death (Redford, 2025).
The railroad’s alternative causation argument
Norfolk Southern attempted to attribute Mr. Redford’s leukemia solely to smoking, a common defense strategy in occupational cancer litigation. The jury’s verdict finding partial railroad liability reflects a rejection of that all-or-nothing causation theory in favor of a multifactorial view in which occupational toxic exposure played a substantial contributing role alongside other risk factors.
Why maintenance-of-way work carries a distinctive exposure profile
Unlike locomotive engineers or conductors who primarily experience diesel exhaust exposure, maintenance-of-way workers who install, repair, and replace railroad ties and track infrastructure experience combined diesel exhaust and creosote exposure, since creosote has historically been the primary wood preservative used to treat railroad ties against decay.
The toxicological profile of creosote
Creosote is a complex mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phenolic compounds; IARC classifies coal-tar creosote as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), based on epidemiological and mechanistic evidence, including evidence relevant to hematologic malignancies such as leukemia (IARC, Monograph 100F).
Diesel exhaust’s independent, separately established carcinogenicity
As addressed in other FELA matters, diesel engine exhaust is independently classified by IARC as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), grounded substantially in the Garshick railroad worker cohort studies documenting elevated lung cancer risk with cumulative diesel exposure, giving Mr. Redford’s case two independently documented occupational carcinogen exposures rather than one (IARC, Monograph 105; Garshick et al., 1988).
Why combined exposure complicates, but does not defeat, causation
When a worker experiences simultaneous exposure to two established carcinogens, creosote and diesel exhaust, a defendant may argue that neither exposure alone can be proven to have caused the specific disease. Exposure reconstruction addressing both contaminants’ concentrations, durations, and combined biological plausibility for the specific disease at issue, here leukemia, is central to overcoming that argument.
The role of medical causation experts in the division of labor
As in Dr. Rosenfeld’s other litigation work, his role was to reconstruct the historical occupational exposure to diesel exhaust and creosote across Mr. Redford’s 38-year career, providing the quantitative exposure foundation upon which a hematologist or oncologist could then evaluate the medical causation question for his specific leukemia diagnosis.
Damages reflecting the full course of illness
The jury’s award encompassed medical costs, pain and suffering, and mental anguish spanning the period from diagnosis through death, reflecting the reality that occupational leukemia cases involve not only a liability determination but a full accounting of the disease’s physical and psychological toll on the worker and family over time.
Why FELA remains a distinct litigation framework
Because railroad workers are excluded from standard state workers’ compensation systems and instead proceed under the federal FELA statute, which permits a comparative-fault jury verdict rather than a fixed compensation schedule, cases like Redford’s illustrate how exposure reconstruction directly shapes both the liability percentage and the resulting damages figure in a way that differs materially from ordinary workers’ compensation claims. Visit RoseyFields.com to read more about Dr. Rosenfeld’s FELA and railroad occupational exposure work.
References
1. Estate of Randall Redford v Norfolk Southern Railway Company. Case No. Cl22011540-0, Circuit Court of Virginia for the County of Norfolk; jury verdict October 7, 2025.
2. RoseyFields LLC. $21.8 Million Jury Verdict — FELA Diesel & Creosote Exposure (Norfolk Southern). Santa Monica, CA: RoseyFields LLC; 2026.
3. IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. Chemical Agents and Related Occupations. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, Vol 100F. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2012.
4. IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. Diesel and Gasoline Engine Exhausts and Some Nitroarenes. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, Vol 105. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2014.
5. Garshick E, Schenker MB, Munoz A, Segal M, Smith TJ, Woskie SR, Hammond SK, Speizer FE. A retrospective cohort study of lung cancer and diesel exhaust exposure in railroad workers. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1988;137(4):820-825.
6. Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 45 USC §§ 51-60.
7. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Toxicological Profile for Wood Creosote, Coal Tar Creosote, Coal Tar, Coal Tar Pitch, and Coal Tar Pitch Volatiles. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services; 2002.
8. US Environmental Protection Agency. Health Assessment Document for Diesel Engine Exhaust. Washington, DC: US EPA; 2002.
9. Rosenfeld PE, Spaeth K, Hallman R, Bressler R, Smith G. Cancer risk and diesel exhaust exposure among railroad workers. Water Air Soil Pollut. 2022;233:171.
10. US Environmental Protection Agency. Revisions to the Guideline on Air Quality Models. 40 CFR Part 51, Appendix W. Fed Regist. 2017;82(10):5182-5235.
11. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response. 29 CFR § 1910.120.
12. Rosenfeld PE. RoseyFields LLC: FELA Occupational Exposure Assessment. Santa Monica, CA: RoseyFields LLC; 2026.
13. Mine Safety and Health Administration. Diesel Particulate Matter Exposure of Underground Metal and Nonmetal Miners. 30 CFR § 57.5060. Washington, DC: US Department of Labor.
14. US National Toxicology Program. Report on Carcinogens: Diesel Exhaust Particulates. Research Triangle Park, NC: US Department of Health and Human Services.