CALDWELL -- Somerville resident Dennis Davis was an athletic and active 19-year-old when he began his career at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. plant, his lawyers said.
But on Thursday, now in his mid-50s, Davis sat hunched over in the Burleson County Courthouse with a surgical mask covering his face.
Davis was diagnosed in 2006 with pancreatic cancer that has since spread to his liver and lungs.
"He became weak, sick and emaciated and lost a tremendous amount of weight," said Rachel Mor, one of his lawyers. "The life he knew was pretty much over."
Davis is suing his former employer, saying that the chemicals he was exposed to at the plant and the company's efforts to cover up their potential harm are the reasons he contracted the cancer. Opening statements and testimony began in the case Thursday.
"When all of the evidence is in and the truth is known, I am going to come back in front of you and we are going to ask you to make this right," Mor said. "We are going to ask you for justice, and we think that when all of the evidence is in and the truth is known, we are going to ask you for a substantial amount of money."
Lawyers for BNSF argued that no evidence exists that creosote can cause the type of cancer Davis contracted. Doug Poole, a defense attorney in the case, told jurors that he would call leading experts and even Davis' own doctor to testify that the cause of his cancer was unclear.
"This case is kind of a non-starter," Poole said in his opening statement, adding that many people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lives. "Most will not know what caused it. That is the science of the case, and that is where the case starts and ends."
The issue of whether the BNSF plant in Somerville has caused employees and residents of Somerville to contract cancer has engulfed the city of fewer than 2,000 for years.
More than 80 lawsuits have been filed against the company, which sold the plant in 1995, and Koppers Industries Inc., which now owns it.
The plant, which was built in 1905, makes railroad ties. The ties are dipped in creosote to make them more durable.
Excess creosote and other chemical waste has been burned, buried and poured into water around Somerville. Those suing the companies say that the waste has caused an abnormally high rate of cancer in the town.
A study commissioned by the Somerville Independent School District reported that samples taken from the attics of local schools showed higher rates of toxins than in dust found in New York apartments soon after the World Trade Center collapsed. An investigation commissioned by plaintiffs' lawyers found similar results.
BNSF officials have said that people rarely visit their attics and noted that some parts of the schools were shown to have fewer toxins. They cited studies that they said showed no abnormal levels of cancer in Somerville.
Poole, one of several lawyers representing BNSF in the current case, said studies and expert testimony that Davis' lawyers would present to jurors would represent "courtroom science, not real science."
He said that true experts and government officials, whom his side would call to testify, dispute claims that the plant is causing cancer.
"It is lawyers coming into town and stirring this up," he said. "It is lawyer-driven, and it involves money. The government has never said there is a problem in Somerville."
Davis' lawyers argued that BNSF employees knew creosote was a carcinogen but hid the information from employees.
"How do you keep men working with toxic chemicals day after day with no pay?" asked Mor during her opening statement. "You don't tell them it is dangerous, and you don't give them protective equipment because they would know it is dangerous."
The plaintiffs called a former longtime employee of the plant as their first witness Thursday afternoon. Robert Urbanosky testified that employees asked a BNSF executive in the 1980s if creosote was dangerous.
"He told us all creosote would do is open up your sinuses," Urbanosky said.
Davis' lawyers also entered into evidence a memo from the 1980s that a health expert wrote to executives recommending that they inform employees of the danger of creosote and provide them with protective equipment.
Urbanosky testified that no changes were made. He remained on the witness stand when proceedings ended Thursday and will continue his testimony Friday morning.
Numerous employees, doctors, regulators and researchers will be called to testify in the trial, which is expected to last between four and six weeks.
Davis, who is undergoing chemotherapy, will be in and out of the courtroom during the trial, his lawyers said. More than a dozen lawyers crowded into the courtroom for the proceedings.
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