A Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed a $2.75 million jury verdict awarded in favor of a locomotive engineer for his claim of negligence against BNSF Railway Co., over spinal injuries he sustained while his company-issued safety vest got caught on one of the train doors.

In a Tuesday opinion, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District affirmed a $2.75 million jury verdict after denying defendant BNSF Railway Co.'s attempts to appeal the judgment. BNSF argued the trial court erred in submitting certain jury instructions that discussed the safety of the working conditions, and that the court abused its discretion in denying its proffered withdrawal instruction. BNSF argued the lower court erred in giving the jury instruction because there was insufficient substantial evidence in the record to support the submission of the two disjunctive bases for finding BNSF negligent, contending that because Overfield's claim was limited to the use of the vest, the jury should have only been instructed to consider the safety of the clothing, not the conditions of the locomotive.