BNSF Railway Shakes Off Worker’s Cancer Suit

BNSF Railway Co. won dismissal of a conductor’s claims that workplace exposure to benzene and asbestos caused his colon cancer.

The statement of a doctor that diesel exhaust and asbestos are associated with colon cancer wasn’t enough to proceed to trial, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas said, ruling on summary judgment.

The court excluded the testimony of Dr. Evan Roy Berger as scientifically unreliable because he reached his opinion that diesel exhaust and asbestos can cause colon cancer based on his review of literature that showed only an association, the court said.

But an association ...