The Tennessee Court of Appeals has upheld a $5 million award from a Hamilton County jury for a former railroad worker.
Thurston Hensley sued CSX Transportation, claimed he contracted encephalopathy and asbestosis while working as an electrician on the railroad.
The jury in the courtroom of Circuit Court Judge Jackie Schulten Bolton awarded him $5 million in compensatory damages.
The railroad appealed, claiming the statute of limitations had run and questioning the judge's charge and the "inflammatory" nature of the closing argument by the plaintiff's attorney.
The appeals court sent the case back for collection of the award and assigned court cases to the railroad.