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BNSF to pay $4M in Anoka MN crash judgment
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<P mce_keep="true">[quote user="wjstix"] <P><FONT color=#990033> It doesn't sound to me like BNSF is the victim here:</FONT></P> <H1>Judge: Railroad engaged in 'staggering' pattern of misconduct</H1> <DIV style="FLOAT: left; WIDTH: 100%"> <P class=byline><B>By <A href="http://www.startribune.com/bios/10645301.html"><FONT color=#003399>PAUL LEVY</FONT></A>,</B> Star Tribune </P></DIV> <P><EM>"The company's conduct stunned legal experts."</EM></P> <P><EM>"In interviews, Minnesota court officials could not recall another major Minnesota case that involved allegations of such pervasive misconduct. Charges of tampering are extremely rare, Minnesota courts spokesman Kyle Christopherson said."</EM></P> <P><EM>"Bob Pottroff, a Kansas-based attorney representing the families, said Burlington Northern's conduct is "unprecedented." "We can't find a parallel case with so many levels of abuse," said Pottroff, a national expert on railroad cases."</EM></P> <P><EM>"Among the railroad company's biggest blunders:</EM></P> <DIV class=articlePageDiv id=pageDiv3><EM>• Losing or destroying a computer disk that recorded the train's speed and other factors on the night of the collision. The disk would have revealed whether the victims were given adequate warning time at the crossing. A laptop containing the data was also destroyed.</EM></DIV> <P><EM>• The railroad's failure to disclose its awareness of previous signal problems at the crossing.</EM></P> <P><EM>• The destruction of records relating to work done on eight feet of track at the crossing.</EM></P> <P><EM>"It was revealed that a work gang had, in fact, worked on the approach track at the Ferry Street Crossing the day before the accident and that, shortly after the accident, the signal system had been revised,'' Maas said in her ruling."</EM></P> <P><A href="http://www.startribune.com/local/east/64462297.html?page=1&c=y"><FONT color=#3300ff>http://www.startribune.com/local/east/64462297.html?page=1&c=y</FONT></A></P> <P><IMG alt=Disapprove src="http://cs.trains.com/trccs/emoticons/icon_smile_disapprove.gif"></P> <P>[/quote]</P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face=georgia,palatino>Yes, it doesn't <U>sound</U> like BNSF is the victim, but it all depends on what these allegations really amount to.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They sound bad, but are they really as dishonest, and bad faith as they sound, or are they just being spun that way by the plaintiff’s attorneys?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I can’t tell.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face=georgia,palatino><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face=georgia,palatino><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN>This picture of bad faith on the part of BNSF has been used to establish the signal failure.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In other words, the premise is that since BNSF cannot prove the signals worked, they must have failed, and BNSF cannot prove the signals worked because nothing they say can be trusted to be true.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><EM><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=georgia,palatino></FONT></SPAN></EM> </P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><EM><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=georgia,palatino>I suspect that the signal data evidence was quite complex, and the plaintiff’s attorneys were able to manipulate that complexity in such a way so as to paint a picture for the jury that the complexity was actually deceit on the part of BNSF.</FONT></SPAN></EM></P>
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