CSX cancer lawsuits for workers

Railroad employees injured or sickened while doing their jobs are covered by FELA, under the federal law. CSX runs about 20,000 route miles of track across 26 states, D.C., Ontario and Quebec, according to CSX.

When a worker has passed away, the personal representative of the estate brings the claim. That person manages the estate's affairs, and the case is pursued on behalf of the surviving spouse and children.

Most workers fall under state workers' compensation, but railroad workers do not. Instead, FELA lets them seek their losses directly from the railroad, and that recovery can cover medical bills, wages lost now and down the road, and pain and suffering.

CSX submits reports to the Federal Railroad Administration covering its own on-duty employees. Those records contain very few illnesses and no cancer whatsoever.

The federal data almost never captures cancer, since it tends to surface years after the exposure, frequently once the worker has already left the railroad. A missing report does not by itself rule out a claim.

You don't have to prove the railroad was the only cause. In CSX v. McBride, the Supreme Court said its negligence only has to play a part, no matter how small.

Even a worker who shares some of the blame can still win compensation. The jury reduces the award in proportion to the worker's share of fault, under 45 U.S.C. § 53. Nor can the railroad claim the worker took on the job's risks when its own carelessness contributed to the harm.

Thurston Hensley spent many years working for CSX before suing in a Tennessee court, arguing that the railroad's negligence caused his asbestosis. Asbestosis is scarring of the lungs from inhaled asbestos fibers. He also asked for damages over his fear of getting lung cancer, and the jury gave him a $5 million award.

The Supreme Court reversed the ruling, saying that because CSX asked for it, the jury should have been told the fear had to be genuine and serious. A prior decision had already held that workers with asbestosis tied to their jobs can recover for a genuine and serious fear of cancer.

FELA claims have to be filed within three years, under 45 U.S.C. § 56, in either a federal or a state court. In Urie v. Thompson, the Supreme Court explained that for a slowly developing illness, the three years start when the effects of the exposure show themselves, not when the exposure first occurs.

Delay has cost workers their cases. Early in 2026, an appeals court in New Jersey affirmed the dismissal of a bladder cancer claim from a car inspector. His doctor linked the cancer to what he breathed at work in May 2014, and when he filed in April 2019, the court ruled that claims for the cancer as it existed in 2014 missed the three-year deadline. Call for a free review to discuss your diagnosis, work history, and the three-year filing deadline with a law firm that handles railroad workers' claims.

When you call or fill out the short form, it reaches a law firm that represents railroad workers in FELA claims, and the review is free. Your call might be recorded so the attorney's office keeps an accurate account of your work history.

The person reviewing your case will ask about the following, so having this information close by is useful:

1. Which railroads employed you, and when.
2. The jobs you held.
3. The yards, shops, or stretches of track where you spent your time.
4. Your diagnosis, and the moment a doctor first raised the possibility that it was connected to your job.

You can speak freely, because federal law voids any railroad rule or contract meant to stop employees from sharing what they know about a coworker's injury or death. The review is free, and the sooner you call, the more time you have before the deadline.