(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Blake Nicholson on August 15.)
BISMARCK, N.D. — Minot residents whose derailment injury claims against Canadian Pacific Railway have run into a legal roadblock in the courts plan to demonstrate outside the railroad’s U.S. headquarters in Minneapolis.
“We’ve decided we’re just not going to sit here and take this stuff,” said Tom Lundeen, who has been an unofficial spokesman through the years for people hurt in the January 2002 derailment and chemical spill on the west edge of Minot. “We’re going to do whatever it takes to let people know that this isn’t right.”
Railroad attorney Tim Thornton said as long as the group is demonstrating legally on public property, “let them protest.”
“It seems to me their complaint is with the federal courts, not the railroad,” he said.
The derailment early on the morning of Jan. 18, 2002, sent a cloud of toxic anhydrous ammonia over the city, killing one man as he tried to escape the chemical and sending hundreds of people to the hospital. The National Transportation Safety Board later ruled that inadequate track maintenance and inspections were to blame, a finding the railroad disputed.
Hundreds of people sued the railroad in courts in North Dakota and Minnesota. Some reached settlements before trial for undisclosed amounts. Most of the cases have been dismissed or are in legal limbo.
In Minnesota, a number of cases filed in state court were shifted to federal court in May by a federal appeals court ruling. A federal judge in Bismarck had thrown out a class action lawsuit in March, ruling that the Federal Railroad Safety Act protects the railroad from such lawsuits.
U.S. District Judge Dan Hovland noted in his ruling that “the judicial system is left with a law that is inherently unfair to innocent bystanders and property owners who may be injured by the negligent actions of railroad companies.”
Fargo attorney Mike Miller said he has appealed Hovland’s ruling to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has not yet ruled.
The Minnesota cases are in limbo pending decisions from the 8th Circuit and additional review by the federal courts.
The railroad also is challenging a Minnesota state court jury’s decision in February to award four people nearly $1.86 million for injuries they suffered in the derailment.
“Federal court will decide the appropriateness of the jury verdicts,” Thornton said.
Lundeen said Minot residents are “hurt and upset” by the rulings of judges that have left them with little recourse.
“It’s not right, and it’s not fair,” he said. “We, as citizens, are going to try to make our voices heard. Some of us … got together last week and decided we can’t sit on our hands.”
Lundeen said a meeting was planned Wednesday night to organize the demonstration next Monday. He said he would not know until after the meeting how many people will take part.
Lundeen said the group does not believe it can get the railroad to help derailment victims, but instead hopes to bring the nation’s attention to an unfair situation.
“We’re trying to get people to understand that this is just not right,” he said. “We may not get anywhere with this, but we’re going to sure try. We’re going to make as much noise as we can. Someone’s got to do something.”