A railroad crossing accident lawsuit arising out of the death of an elderly couple at a malfunctioning CSX rail crossing in a town South of Rochester, NY has been settled. The confidential settlement was reached shortly before the case was to go to trial.
While the terms of the settlement are confidential, the railroad attorney representing the daughter of couple killed made a statement to a local news reporter. “The best thing to say is that the family is finally happy to put the tragedy behind them,” the lawyer said last week.
CSX Transportation refused comment on the settlement other than to say that the lawsuit had been settled. Defendants in the case included both CSX and the crew of the train involved in the February 2004 crash.
The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of New York in May 2005, claimed that railroad crossing gates and lights had been disabled by CSX after repeated problems with the safety equipment had been reported. The railroad company admitted intentionally disabling the gates and lights.
The railroad company directed railroad crews to stop their trains and alert drivers before passing through the crossings. The engineer of the train said that he has lost track of the position of the train. CSX was fined nearly $300, 000 by federal regulators because of its poor railroad crossing maintenance.
The New York State Attorney General office reviewed CSX’s crossing maintenance record and reached a $1.5 million settlement with the railroad company. CSX promised to respond more quickly to safety problems with its railroad crossings.
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