The West Virginia Supreme Court has overturned a ruling that had deprived a retired railroad worker of the ability to seek damages from his former employer. There is a long history of West Virginia asbestos cases.

Sparrel Ratliff, a former employee of the Norfolk Southern Railway Company, died from mesothelioma in July of 2005. His widow, Freda Marlene Ratliff, filed an action against Norfolk Southern to recover damages under the Federal Employer’s Liability Act.
However, the company refused, on the ground that her husband had accepted an early retirement package, which they felt absolved them of any need to pay damages. The company argued that part of the early retirement agreement that was signed by Mr. Ratliff contained language that exempted the company from any future employment-related claims.

Ohio Circuit Judge Arthur Recht in 2007 granted summary judgment to Norfolk Southern Railway Company in a lawsuit brought on by Freda Marlene Ratliff.

Now that verdict has been overturned, the West Virginia justices have ruled that an early retirement agreement does not release a company from future liability. The court’s opinion cited two federal cases which affected the decision.

The ruling declared that the settlement agreement was not settling the future outcome of any claim by the employee. Rather, the employee has “merely agreed to a voluntary end to his or her employment… an employee who is participating in a voluntary separation program is not engaged in a controversy as to liability.”

Using that logic, the justices ruled that the early retirement agreement Sparrell signed in 1986 did not exempt the

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