Family of Norfolk Southern worker wins $1 million asbestos lawsuit judgment against the railroad

The workers may be decades retired from their former jobs if they’re even still living, but asbestos lawsuits against railroads show no signs of abating.

The family of a Norfolk man who died after being exposed to asbestos while working for Norfolk Southern Railway’s predecessor recently won a $1 million judgement against the railroad company in Norfolk Circuit Court.

Stephen F. Fowlkes worked for Norfolk & Western Railway Co. in Norfolk from 1979 until 1991, repairing locomotive cars. Just a few years before he retired, the company hired an asbestos abatement contractor to remove it from the car shop he worked in but even then, workers weren't told there was an asbestos risk, attorney Richard Shapiro said.

“We’re not saying this is a bad corporation, no, and we’re not saying good people don’t work at this railroad,” Shapiro said in his closing statement. “But good companies can make horribly bad decisions, and this is definitely one.”

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