Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When a truck pulled in front of the train at a crossing, Barnes hit the brakes on his locomotive, causing a whiplash-type motion that slammed his seat into his back and, he says, left him permanently disabled.
After hearing how the accident happened, a Roanoke jury on Thursday found that Norfolk Southern Corp. was liable for Barnes' injury and awarded him $450,000 in damages.
Barnes had asked for much more - $4.7 million for an injury his attorney said was caused when the railroad improperly put the heaviest boxcars at the end of the train, thus creating a danger.
``This train was a ticking time bomb, and we know who it blew up on,'' attorney Richard Cranwell of Vinton told the jury. ``A man who had given 24 years of good service to his employer.''
Cranwell had argued that by putting the heaviest load at the end of the 48-car train, instead of directly behind the locomotives, the railroad increased the chances of the kind of reaction that caused Barnes' injury.
Although Barnes was able to avoid the truck, his braking created what is known in railroad lingo as ``slack action'' - a lurching motion caused by the slack in couplers between the cars. Putting the heaviest cars at the end of the train makes the problem worse, Cranwell said.
But during a four-day trial in Roanoke Circuit Court, an attorney for Norfolk Southern argued that the railroad did nothing wrong.
``Slack action is a fact of life on the railroad,'' James Johnson told the jury. Johnson questioned the severity of Barnes' injury and whether it was even caused by the train's motion.
The injury - later diagnosed as a herniated disc - required no emergency treatment or surgery. At the time of the incident, Barnes said he felt a ``twinge'' in his back, but continued to work and did not seek medical care for several days.
Although Barnes said he was left permanently disabled, Johnson pointed out that he can still travel and go hunting.
In the past, railroad officials have complained that Roanoke juries tend to return excessive awards in lawsuits involving on-the-job injuries. In eight cases since 1990, for example, juries have awarded a total of nearly $10 million - from $250,000 to a clerk who fell out of his chair to $4.7 million to a brakeman injured when a steel door fell on his back.
But at least half of those verdicts have been overturned on post-trial motions or appeal.
Most people injured on the job are covered by workers compensation and thus are barred from filing lawsuits. But railroad workers are allowed to sue under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, and hundreds of cases have been filed in Roanoke over the years.
by CNB