Timeline of tragedy and trial

Sept. 26, 2003: Around 10 p.m., a westbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe train, traveling 60 miles per hour, hits a car at the Ferry Street crossing in Anoka. Killed are Brian Frazier, 20, of Newport, who owned the car and was the assumed driver; Bridgette M. Shannon, 17, of Ramsey; Corey E. Chase, 20, of Coon Rapids, and Harry Rhoades Jr., 20, of Blaine. A railroad spokesman says the car went around the lowered crossing arm. The train engineer is believed to be the lone witness.

Dec. 2, 2003: A two-month investigation concludes that careless driving and failure to stop at the crossing were the main factors in causing the accident. But State Patrol Sgt. John Trautner, a crash expert, notes that Burlington Northern failed to provide signal-crossing data that logs how far away a train is when the crossing signal is activated.

June 13, 2008: After a six-week trial, the families of the four people killed are awarded $24 million by an Anoka County District Court jury that rejects earlier suggestions that the victims tried to beat the train to the crossing. The jury determines that BNSF was 90 percent responsible and the driver 10 percent responsible. Plaintiffs argued that the crossing signal wasn't working properly at the time of the accident. The railroad maintains that it was.

April 21, 2009: Lawyers for the victims' families allege that Burlington Northern Santa Fe destroyed, withheld, misplaced or manufactured railroad records leading to the 2008 trial. The families say the railroad's actions prevented them from collecting punitive damages and ask Judge Ellen Maas for sanctions against the railroad of $45 million or more.

June 26, 2009: Six years after the accident, four new witnesses emerge. Two were paid thousands of dollars by an attorney to help the railroad in its bid to fight the $24 million jury verdict. Legal experts say this may be the first time in a Minnesota trial that a non-expert witness has been paid beyond travel expenses and incidentals. Maas says that the explanation for paying the witnesses "didn't pass the smell test." The judge denies a motion for a new trial and declines to reduce the jury award to the families.