(The following story by Dustin Lemmon appeared on the Quad City Times website on May 26, 2009.)
DAVENPORT, Iowa — The eldest daughter of a Colona, Ill., woman who died when her car was struck by a train two years ago has filed a federal lawsuit against Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
Cynthia L. Madden, 50, died May 28, 2007, when a train struck her vehicle that had stalled on the railroad tracks at the Cleveland Road intersection, just east of Illinois 84.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court, Rock Island, by Tanya Nunez, who is the administrator of her mother’s estate. The suit seeks $2 million in damages.
According to the suit, Madden was driving a 1996 Toyota Camry that stalled in front of a driveway on Cleveland Road near the railroad crossing. She telephoned her son for help and another daughter to let her know she was in Colona.
Madden was then able to restart the car and moved west to clear the driveway she was blocking. As she crossed the railroad tracks the vehicle again stalled. The railroad flashers then turned on and the crossing gates lowered, the suit states.
Madden got out of her car and moved away from the train, which struck the Camry. The Camry then struck and killed Madden, the suit adds.
The suit claims that a driver approaching from the east side of the BNSF railroad crossing on Cleveland Road, as Madden did, has no visibility of a train proceeding on the BNSF tracks from the north until the vehicle is six feet east of the crossing. It adds that the lack of visibility is due to the incline of a hill and grown trees bordering the right of way.
Steve Forsberg, a spokesman for BNSF, said he had not heard about the lawsuit as of Tuesday. He said the company normally responds to litigation through the legal process.
The suit states that Madden had five children and one grandson at the time of her death.