Asbestos victim's dying words aired in wrongful death case against Buffet's railroad
Environmental cleanup specialists work at an asbestos cleanup site in Libby, Montana, on Sept. 13, 2018. A lawsuit being tried in federal court alleges BNSF Railway knew the vermiculite it was hauling through Libby from a nearby mine was tainted with asbestos. The railroad denies the allegations. (Kurt Wilson/The Missoulian via AP, File)
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Thomas Wells ran a half-marathon at age 60 and played recreational volleyball until he was 63. At 65 years old, doctors diagnosed him with mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive lung cancer linked to asbestos exposure.
"I'm in great pain and alls I see is this getting worse," the retired middle school teacher from Oregon said in a video deposition recorded in March 2020, four months after his cancer diagnosis. He died a day later.
Portions of Wells' deposition were replayed Monday in a federal courtroom for a jury hearing a wrongful death case against Warren Buffett's BNSF Railway.
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