William O. Bongard - Press

Judge awards families additional $4M for railroad's misconduct

The Ferry Street railroad crossing in Anoka is less than two miles from where David and Denise Shannon live, and they have to drive across it every day.

It's the railroad crossing where their 17-year-old daughter Bridgette and three others died in 2003 when a freight train slammed into a Chevrolet Cavalier carrying the four young friends.

"I've made a ritual out of it," Denise said. "I come to a stop, I look both ways, make sure I say, "I love you guys,' and I go on."

This week, the Shannons, as well as the families of 20-year-old Brian Frazier, 20-year-old Harry Rhoades, and 19-year-old Corey Chase, were awarded $4 million when a Washington County judge ruled the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company tried to cover up evidence during the trial.

In that trial, which ended last year, a jury awarded the families $21 million and placed 90 percent of the blame for the crash on Burlington Northern.

The additional $4 million is a sanction against the railroad for what Judge Ellen Maas called "staggering" misconduct during the trial.

Maas said Burlington Northen failed to disclose that it knew about problems with the warning signal at the crossing, it destroyed records of work done on the railroad tracks, and most significantly, it either lost or destroyed a recording of the collision. That recording contained the same kind of information that would be in an airplane's black box.

"They were so smooth in the way that they manipulated the court, or attempted to manipulate the court, and the families, that this couldn't have been the first time," David Shannon said.

Bill Bongard, one of seven attorneys representing the families, said Maas sent the company a message about playing by the rules.

"It took much longer to get to trial than it should have," he said. "There was so much evidence withheld, produced late, that it put an enormous financial burden on the families and the court system."

Burlington Northern insists the car ignored the warning gate and says new witnesses have come forth, since the trial, who will say that. Two of the witnesses were paid for their testimony.

The railway also called the $4 million award an "improper" award and said it is planning an appeal.

Meanwhile, the families have not received any money, and they won't until the appeals process is finished.

"It'll take some amount of time for it to progress to the next step," David Shannon said. "But we'll be there. We're not giving up."

From Kare11.com