On June 13, 2008 an Anoka County jury returned what is believed to be among the highest wrongful death verdicts for the deaths of individual unmarried young adults in Minnesota history.  Corey Chase, Bridgette Shannon, Brian Frazier and Harry Rhoades, Jr. were killed in a railroad grade crossing collision at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Grade tracks at the Ferry Street Crossing in Anoka on September 26, 2003.

 

The eight person jury returned a verdict totaling $24,000,000 allocating $6,000,000 to the surviving next-of-kin of each decedent.

 

None of young adults were married, although Corey Chase did have a daughter, Taylor. Paul Godlewski of the Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben law firm represented the family of Corey Chase. The family of Brian Frazier was represented by Pat Sauter and Mark Bradford; the family of Harry Rhoades, Jr. was represented by William Bongard, and the family of Bridgette Shannon was represented by Allan Shapiro. The lawyers for the families joined with Sharon VanDyck and Robert Pottroff in pursuing the claim against the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.

 

It was initially reported that the driver of the 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier drove around the downed railroad grade crossing gates at the Ferry Street Crossing. However, BNSF never did release the original electronic data recorder print-out on the disc CD from the bungalow that would have verified this fact. 

 

Following 4 ½ years of intense litigation and discovery, it was proven before an Anoka County jury that BNSF failed to properly maintain this railroad grade crossing. There had been prior reported intermittent activation failures and false activations that were not diagnosed with troubleshooting, identified or fixed. To the satisfaction of an Anoka County jury after a six week trial beginning May 5, 2008, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad was found to be 90% negligent in the cause of the crash and deaths of these four young adults.

 

In reconstructing this accident the Minnesota Highway Patrol did not receive any of the requested information from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. All of the property damage to the Chevrolet Cavalier was in the southbound lane of Ferry Street---which would have been in the correct lane of travel for this car. The position of the vehicle and skid marks initially led the law enforcement personnel to believe that the gates were not operating. 

 

In addition to vindicating the families of Corey, Bridgett, Shannon, Brian and Harry it is their hope that this case will inspire closer scrutiny by law enforcement personnel when investigating railroad grade crossing collisions.   Railroad personnel should not be allowed to enter the bungalow and begin to assemble data without the presence of trained law enforcement personnel.  

 

For further information contact Paul Godlewski at 612-250-1900, or 612-344-0327