A Lackawanna County judge has consolidated the cases of eight railroad workers suing the same employer under the same federal law for negligent exposure to coal dust and diesel fumes.
Court of Common Pleas Judge Terrence R. Nealon’s decision, in granting the plaintiffs’ joint trial motion under Pa.R.C.P. 213(a), turned on the standard that all the matters involved a common question of law or fact. In this case, it was both, as the men are all seeking solely non-economic damages under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act for their exposures to toxic dust and fumes.
