(The following article by Kay Luna was published by the Quad Cities Times on May 2. Pat Johnson is a member of BLE Division 125 in Clinton, Iowa.)
CLINTON, Iowa — Patrick Johnson of Clinton was a fourth-generation locomotive engineer, working the only job he ever wanted, until a rail broke under the train he was operating near Cedar Rapids two years ago.
On Wednesday, a St. Louis jury ruled Union Pacific Railroad owes the 44-year-old former engineer $4.1 million for injuries he suffered in the accident May 11, 2001.
Johnson and his wife, Cheri, celebrated the verdict Wednesday in the offices of their St. Louis attorneys after the week-and-a-half-long civil case ended.
Union Pacific Railroad could file an appeal of the verdict. The rail company denied it was at fault for the accident during trial. Company representatives could not be reached by the Times for comment about the verdict.
“I did get hurt, but things are looking better now,” Johnson said. “The bad thing is, I can no longer be a locomotive engineer, what I’ve always wanted to do. It’s been awfully difficult.”
Johnson said his father, his grandfather and his uncle all have worked as locomotive engineers, going back to 1890.
When he grew up, Johnson followed that career track, reporting daily to the Union Pacific railroad yard near Beaver Channel Parkway in Clinton. He and his family live near Eagle Point Park in Clinton.
Johnson said he was engineering a train about 3 a.m. May 11, 2001, near Cedar Rapids when the train derailed.
Johnson’s attorney, Jerry Schlicter of the Schlicter, Bogard & Denton law firm in St. Louis, said it was the third rail to break in the area in a period of eight days.
Johnson was thrown around the cab of the train’s lead car. He ruptured a disc in his back that has left him with painful injuries.
Johnson underwent neck surgery in St. Louis, and attempted to go back to work several times, but the bouncing and jarring of the trains was too painful, he said.
Johnson claimed Union Pacific was at fault for failing to maintain the track. He also contended the railroad’s vocational rehabilitation program was “designed for the lawsuit, was not legitimate and was set up only for trial,” his attorney said.
The lawsuit was filed in St. Louis because Johnson’s lawyers and doctors and rail company offices are located there.