"Railroad says lives weren't worth $6 million each" read the front-page headline in the Dec. 11 Star Tribune. That accurately summed up the latest heartless legal maneuvering that's inflicted maximum pain on four suburban families whose children died in a car-train collision at Anoka's Ferry Street crossing in September 2003.
After a Minnesota jury placed 90 percent of the accident blame on Burlington Northern Santa Fe, after Washington County Judge Ellen Maas chastised the railroad for a "staggering" pattern of misconduct that included withholding evidence about the deadly crossing's signal problems, the company now says $6 million per victim is too much. It is appealing the court's $21.6 million award to the four families, as well as the $4 million in sanctions awarded by Maas in October.
"It's unprecedented. There's not a verdict that comes close to this for young adults and minors," railroad attorney Tim Thornton said in last week's story. So what does the railroad think these young lives were worth? On Monday, Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokeswoman Suann Lundsberg declined to specify an amount.
There's only one right answer: "Priceless" is the word that should be used to describe the lives of 17-year-old Bridgette Shannon of Ramsey, 20-year-old Corey Chase of Coon Rapids, 20-year-old Harry Rhoades Jr. of Blaine, and 20-year-old Brian Frazier, whose father lives in Ham Lake. Minnesotans who have grieved with their families have also shared their anger at a railroad that's stopped at nothing to cover up its responsibility for these deaths.
Burlington Northern's high-powered legal talent should think twice about using the term "unprecedented." That's how legal experts in Minnesota and across the nation describe their win-at-any-cost legal strategy. The railroad began blaming the victims within hours after the freight train obliterated the two-door Chevy Cavalier driven by Frazier. Its offensive against them and their families never ended.
Reporters working the story the day after the accident were told without hesitation by a railroad spokesman that the driver ignored the warning lights and went around the lowered arm. In the years following, the company did anything it could to uphold its version of events, according to court documents. The railroad controlled key evidence about the accident's cause and destroyed much of it.
The list is simply stunning. Records of work done on 8 feet of track at the Anoka crossing. A computer disk with critical information about the train's speed and other details from shortly before the collision. That data would have revealed if the victims were adequately warned. A laptop holding the information somehow got destroyed, too. The railroad also didn't disclose previous signal problems at the crossing. Two "witnesses" were paid thousands of dollars; neither saw the accident, were at the scene or had any expertise. And yet, Minnesota jurors waded through the muck. They concluded the crossing gate didn't work properly.
Now the railroad wants a new trial. Amazingly, more than six years after the accident, Burlington Northern Santa Fe now claims that several new witnesses have surfaced. It wants a new jury to hear their testimony. New witnesses, really?
