Following on the heels of a study that recently confirmed consistent patterns of brain damage among solvent-exposed railroad workers, a jury in Kentucky has awarded a significant sum of money to a man whose brain damage was similarly attributed to solvent exposure:

A Jefferson Circuit Court jury has awarded a former railroad employee $1.8 million after he claimed exposure to cleaning solvent at work in Louisville and Corbin caused permanent brain damage.

Terry L. Williams, 59, of Corbin, had targeted his former employer, CSX Transportation, in the lawsuit. He declined to be interviewed.

CSX spokesman Gary Sease declined to comment. Sease has previously said that the company does not believe solvents sickened workers at CSX or companies that CSX acquired, such as the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.

But the 9-3 verdict in the two-week trial is the latest in a string of litigation in several states involving hundreds of railroad workers.

The Louisville jury awarded Williams $500,000 for medical expenses, $500,000 for loss of income, $500,000 for past mental and physical pain and suffering and $500,000 for future mental and physical pain and suffering, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

Because the jury attributed 10 percent of the negligence to Williams, CSX will be obligated to pay 90 percent of the award, or $1.8 million.

Kenneth Sales, senior partner in [The Sales and Slattery Group,] the law firm that handled Williams' case, said Williams worked for the railroad 34 years, leaving in 2000 after having been diagnosed with toxic encephalopathy. Williams' career as a machinist working on locomotives started at the L&N's old South Louisville shops and ended at a maintenance facility in Corbin.

Read the rest of the story in The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Note: We are in the process of trying to chase down more info on this case. Specifically, what were the actual solvents to which Mr. Williams was exposed and to which his brain damage was attributed? Published reports do not seem to mention this detail. We have one lead that suggests 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) may have been the main contaminant of concern (Thanks K.P.), but we are trying to confirm it. As such, we're attempting to reach the law firm that represented Mr. Williams as well as the author of the story above. If or as we learn any more, we'll post an update here.