Jury gives ex-engineer $370,000
By Roma Khanna

A Harris County jury awarded a former Union Pacific Railroad engineer more than $370,000 last week after finding that company negligence contributed to back problems he developed after years of riding on jolting trains.

The case is one of several filed across the county by railroad workers claiming exposure to shock and vibrations on trains caused injuries. It is one of the first cases to go to trail.

Lawyers for Joseph J. Chidgey, 50, argued that after working mor than 25 years as a locomotive engineer he developed severe back problems that have required surgery and will require future care.

"As an engineer, he experienced a lot of shock and vibrations," said Steve Young, who represented Chidgey. "They (Union Pacific) knew, at least in the 1960s, that vibration was potentially harmful to the spine."

Young and attorney John Tavormina also argued that Chidgey was forced to sit on defective, poorly maintained seats that accentuated the vibration.

Union Pacific countered there was no scientific basis to conclude that vibrations at the level that Chidgey was exposed to could cause such back problems. Company lawyers attributed Chidgey's back problems to genetics.