(The Fort Worth Star-Telegram published the following story by Martha Deller on its website on September 26.)
CLEBURNE — An $80 million lawsuit over a fatal Dec. 4, 2001, train-van collision at an Alvarado railroad crossing could be settled out of court after the death of a juror’s relative shut down the four-day trial until Monday.
Attorneys for Patricia Lowery, paralyzed in the collision that killed her 9-year-old son, Conner, have had seven witnesses testify in an effort to prove that Union Pacific and Trinity Materials, which leased a track near the main rail, were responsible for the crash at the County Road 404 crossing.
Lowery’s attorneys were to call more witnesses today when 18th District Judge John Neill was notified that a juror was on her way to San Antonio for her father-in-law’s funeral.
Settlement negotiations apparently began during a 90-minute recess to allow attorneys to decide whether to proceed with 11 jurors or delay the trial until Monday.
When court resumed, Lowery’s attorney Robert Greenberg asked Neill to delay the trial until today to allow the parties to complete the settlement negotiations. Jeff Cochran, appointed to represent 13-year-old Bianca Lowery in the case, concurred.
But attorneys for Trinity and Union Pacific urged Neill to either proceed with the trial or delay it until the missing juror returns.
“There are witnesses and jurors sitting here with other obligations,” said Trinity attorney Dotty Vidal. “We need to be fair to everybody and either proceed with 11 jurors or delay it until Monday.”
Union Pacific attorney Grant Liser agreed. “I’d hate to wait until tomorrow [Friday] to decide whether we’re going to proceed or wait until Monday,” he said.
Neill then excused the 11 remaining jurors until 9 a.m. Monday, when the trial is expected to continue, barring a settlement. Attorneys say that it is not unusual for negotiations to take place during civil trials but that they don’t always lead to settlements.
If a settlement is approved in the Lowery case, attorneys say, the judge would have to hold a hearing to determine how much of it would be set aside for Bianca Lowery and how much for Patricia Lowery, her husband, James, and Lowery’s parents, Angelina and Epifanio Maldanado. The Maldanados live near the crash site and helped pull the children from the van.