Railroad Injuries Take Steam out of Man's Life

Rocky Mount, NCOver his 32 year career as a brakeman with CSX Transportation, Bud has developed a litany of injuries. Now retired, his railroad-related injuries cause him constant pain and he is seeking compensation for his broken health.

"My first accident happened in 1970," says Bud. "I was rolled between a train car and a fence. To free me they had to cut my pants off. My second accident came in 1980. I was burned with acid; we were shoving cars into the yard and there was a leak of phosphorous acid. It must have spewed out because my clothes just disintegrated. Luckily, I was wearing coveralls and a jacket because it was winter and just my face got burned.

Now, I've got bad knees and legs from walking on the ballast--in the yard these are the small rocks, in the fields they're big ones. I'd move equipment, using a stirrup to put my feet in and use a handrail, and the box car went along at about 10 miles an hour, and we'd jump into all kinds of equipment. I must have done that 150 times in one shift, maybe 300 cars a day.

Even though we wore six inch steel toe boots the pressure went right through to your feet every time you jumped off.

I've been walking on those rocks for at least 25 years and my feet have been bothering me all along but I guess old age makes it worse. I didn't go to see a doctor regularly because I had bought a house and didn't always have money for a doctor.

These days, my knee sometimes just gives out when I want to get up."

It was Bud's wife, Verlie, who wrote the complaint on the Lawyers and Settlements website."I put it on the website," says Verlie, "for however long it takes to get some compensation because he's worked his tail off. His back is killing him, his legs, his feet and he really can't hear very well--I think that's from being around those trains, too.

What convinced me to write the complaint was an advertisement I saw for lawyers through the railroad association about people who had been hurt, even those contaminated by asbestos. I was concerned about his feet, legs and back from walking on those big rocks.

Bud's been retired since July 2007. He gets pain pills from a doctor but he hasn't really seen one in I don't know how many years. Ever since he had throat cancer in 2000 he hasn't cared that much for going to doctors. He went through radiation and was out of work for quite some time. That could have come from the railroad or from when he was in the navy. He did get a settlement from the railroad of about $15,000 for asbestos poisoning, but the sickness could come back."