Jury Orders DM&E To Pay $4.5 Million In Injury Lawsuit
A railroad worker whose hand was crushed in a railyard accident was awarded $4.5 million in damages Friday.Steven Tennant, 48, of Helena, Mont., contended he lost the use of his right hand when a load of wood shifted and crushed it as he tried to push a piece of wood back onto a Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad car in Rapid City, S.D.
“The railroad lied at trial, and we caught them. The incredible injury and damages prove it,” said attorney Bill Jungbauer.
Brian Donahoe, a lawyer for the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based railroad, said the DM&E plans to appeal.
“We think there were some very serious problems with the facts … and a lot of the claims made by the plaintiffs were made by assumptions, speculation and innuendo,” he said.
Although the accident happened in South Dakota, Jungbauer said federal law allowed Tennant to file the lawsuit “anywhere the railroad lays track.” The Hennepin County jury awarded Tennant money for pain, suffering and lost wages after a nine-day trial.
The case hinged on whether a piece of wood was sticking out on the rail car.
Jungbauer argued the wood was indeed sticking out, but someone cut it off while his client was in the hospital. He said a railroad official saw the wood sticking out and remarked on it during the internal investigation, but changed his story at trial.
Donahoe disputed that the wood was sticking out. He said Tennant was alone when the accident occurred May 21, 2004, and nobody saw what happened.