STILLWATER, Minn. -- A state judge has ordered BNSF to pay $4 million to the families of four people killed at a train crossing in Anoka County in 2003.
Washington County Judge Ellen Mass ordered the award Thursday after finding that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. fabricated evidence, interfered with the families' investigation of the accident and tried to cover up the truth.
An attorney for the railroad, Tim Thornton, declined to comment to the Star Tribune.
An Anoka County jury already awarded the families of the victims $21.6 million. The jury determined that the crossing gate was not working properly when a train collided with a car, killing four people.
(The preceding Associated Press report appeared on the Web site on October 16, 2009.)
It's amazing how many times BNSF has been called to the carpet on shit over the years. Know they've been nailed on a bunch of haz cleanups that the predecessor roads were guilty of. BN wasn't a cheap shit outfit and had a good public image. It has to be the ATSF addition to want to play hardball with everybody.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
Washington County Judge Ellen Mass ordered the award Thursday after finding that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. fabricated evidence, interfered with the families' investigation of the accident and tried to cover up the truth.
An attorney for the railroad, Tim Thornton, declined to comment to the Star Tribune.
October 16, 2009
Ironically...... The subject of employee honesty is brought up repeatedly by local and division management......
Washington County Judge Ellen Mass ordered the award Thursday after finding that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. fabricated evidence, interfered with the families' investigation of the accident and tried to cover up the truth.
An attorney for the railroad, Tim Thornton, declined to comment to the Star Tribune.
October 16, 2009
Ironically...... The subject of employee honesty is brought up repeatedly by local and division management......
MINNEAPOLIS Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. engaged in a "staggering" pattern of misconduct aimed at covering up its role in the deaths of four young people whose car collided with a train largely because a crossing gate wasnt working properly, a judge said Thursday.
To punish the railroad, which allegedly began destroying evidence within minutes of the accident, Judge Ellen Maas awarded $4 million to the victims families and their attorneys. The award comes on top of $21.6 million from a jury that placed 90 percent of the blame for the accident on Fort Worth-based Burlington Northern.
"When encountering conduct as egregious as that of BNSF, this court ... has a duty to impose sanctions of a sufficient severity in order to deter future misconduct of the same caliber," Maas ruled.
A westbound freight train traveling at 59 mph Sept. 26, 2003, collided with Brian Fraziers car as it crossed the tracks around 10 p.m. in Anoka, Minn. Burlington Northern said the driver ignored a warning signal and tried to beat the crossing gate, but a jury concluded that the crossing gate wasnt working properly.
A spokeswoman for Burlington Northern, Suann Lundsberg, said Friday that the verdict and damages will be appealed.
In ruling, Lundsberg said, Maas turned "a blind eye to evidence that was discovered after the trial had been completed." She said a local police officer, his wife "and another independent witness testified under oath that the railroad crossing warning devices were functioning properly moments before the accident.
"Such compelling evidence which confirms the Minnesota State Patrols conclusions about accident causation should have resulted in a new trial, not sanctions," Lundsberg said.
Maas ruled that Burlington Northern lost or fabricated evidence, interfered with the families investigation of the accident and "knowingly advanced lies, misleading facts and/or misrepresentations" to conceal the truth.
The railroad, Maas noted, "has attempted to explain away each instance of misconduct as either an innocent mistake or a mere coincidence. ... This court is not persuaded."
Allan F. Shapiro, an attorney for a victims family, said: "Theres no precedent for this. What Burlington Northern did undermines the rule of law. Its a black eye to American ideals. Thats why its so offensive to see this."
The companys conduct stunned legal experts.
Corporate defendants rarely lose documents or tamper with evidence pertinent to investigations, said Steven Duke, a professor at Yale University Law School. "It rarely surfaces because theyd be caught," Duke said. "This is a very unusual allegation."
-- Edited by FMB on Saturday 17th of October 2009 07:52:05 PM
