News
Motion Hearing Held in District Court for Lawsuit Against BNSF Railway Company
A motion hearing was held in Fourth Judicial District Court in Sheridan Monday regarding a lawsuit filed by the parents of a 2-year-old that was hit by a BNSF Railway Company train in Sheridan in 2017. Sheridan Media’s Ron Richter has the details.
The hearing was held to hear the defendants’ rule 37 motion to compel discovery responses and the Plaintiff’s motion to compel discovery. Legal counsel for both sides are essentially requesting more information from one another and the Court will take the matter under advisement and rule at a later date. District Court Judge John Fenn said a decision on the motions should be issued fairly quickly. In April of 2020, John and Crystal Fath, the parents of a 2-year-old child that was hit by a train at the First Street railroad crossing in Sheridan on July 10, 2017, filed a lawsuit against BNSF and two of its employees, a signal maintainer and the engineer of the train at the time of the accident.
According to the lawsuit filed in District Court, the family is seeking punitive and exemplary damages to cover physical pain; medical expenses; loss of learning capacity; loss of enjoyment of life and mental anguish. The child was hit by the train while a group of students and two adults from Great Foundations Daycare were walking to the park and playground area on First Street. As a result of the accident, the child had to be life-flighted to Denver to be treated for life threatening injuries.
The lawsuit alleges that BNSF was not in compliance with federal standards of care regarding railroad safety and did not comply with state laws, regulations and orders regarding railroad safety. The lawsuit further states that BNSF had, or should have known the signal system at First Street was malfunctioning and not in compliance with federal and state laws and the engineer did not follow protocol to avoid or warn of a potential collision. The lawsuit also alleges the time between the gates and signals activating and a train entering the crossing was fewer than 20 seconds. A trial for the case remains scheduled for January of 2022.
edward capp
June 22, 2021 at 8:12 am
Very, very sad.
But I don’t think the railroad is to blame. The adult in charge
of the two year old should know how trains work, because the
two year old does not, and is therefore responsible for the safety
of the child around railroad tracks.
Unfortunately, when an incident like this happens, the party with
the most money ends up getting sued, even if the blame lies elsewhere.
Frank Grant
June 22, 2021 at 9:40 am
So sorry for the child’s injury. Having had some regulatory experience in dealing with the railroad, this lawsuit has very little chance of progressing as the injured party was “trespassing” on railroad property, thus no liability by the railroad.