(The Associated Press circulated the following story on January 21.)
BISMARCK, N.D. — The widow of a man killed after a deadly derailment two years ago in Minot, N.D., has filed wrongful death lawsuits against Canadian Pacific Railway.
MeLea Grabinger of Minot filed two similar federal lawsuits this month, one in Minneapolis and one in Bismarck, against the railway, its subsidiaries and tank car manufacturers. She seeks more than $75,000 US and a jury trial.
Her husband, John, 38, died after the Jan. 18, 2002, derailment sent a deadly cloud of anhydrous ammonia over Minot. More than one million litres of the chemical spilled from tanker cars near the couple’s rural home.
MeLea Grabinger alleges the railway failed to properly inspect, maintain and repair its track.
Minneapolis lawyer Tim Thornton, who represents the railway, has not yet filed a formal response to the Grabinger lawsuit, but he said workers maintain the track every day.
The wreck on the west edge of Minot ruptured 11 tank cars carrying anhydrous ammonia. The chemical spilled on the ground and formed a vapour cloud. Hundreds of people sought treatment for burns and breathing problems.
The Grabinger lawsuit says John Grabinger was overcome when the couple tried to leave their home. A tanker car had flown through the air and landed near the Grabingers’ backyard.
The lawsuit says John Grabinger drove his truck to a neighbour’s house and when he and his wife got out of the vehicle their eyes burned and they could not see each other.
The Grabingers dropped to their knees, the lawsuit says. MeLea Grabinger was able to get to a neighbour’s house but rescuers could not move her husband. He was later pronounced dead.
The lawsuit seeks “recovery of reasonable damages in an amount in excess of $75,000 US” along with interest, lawyers fees and other costs.
Lawyers say they still get calls from people injured after the derailment of the train, which was headed to Minnesota from Alberta.
Robert Bolinske Sr., a Bismarck lawyer, said he and others are waiting for the report from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board on its investigation into the derailment.
Company documents and witnesses cannot be accessed until the report is finished, he said.
“Basically, the case is in limbo until the report comes out,” Bolinske said.
NTSB officials said they expect to issue the report sometime this spring.
Mike Miller, a Fargo, N.D., lawyer, said he represents nearly 900 people as part of a lawsuit he hopes will gain class-action status. Miller said he has been talking to Canadian Pacific lawyers.
Last summer, North Dakota’s Health Department fined the railway $925,000 US for alleged environmental violations stemming from the spill.
State Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said $500,000 of the settlement was earmarked to build a rural water system for a housing subdivision west of Minot that was engulfed by an ammonia cloud
The remainder was compensation for violation of air- and water-pollution and hazardous-waste laws, Stenehjem said.
Canadian Pacific agreed to the settlement, although the railway said it was neither admitting nor denying the Health Department’s allegations that North Dakota’s air-quality and hazardous-waste laws were violated.