(Minot television station KXMC posted the following story on its website on January 6.)
MINOT, N.D. — A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in Minnesota in connection with the death of a Minot man after a train derailment nearly two years ago.
Preliminary actions in the civil suit have been taken in Hennepin County court in Minneapolis, the US headquarters for Canadian Pacific Railway.
The wrongful death lawsuit is being filed because of the death of John Grabinger of Minot.
He lived in the neighborhood closest to the derailment on January 18, 2002. The accident spewed a toxic cloud of anhydrous ammonia over much of Minot.
John and his wife tried to flee the danger in their pickup, crashing through their garage door which would not open because of a power failure. They became disoriented in the toxic fog and crashed their truck into the side of a neighbor’s house. John and his wife tried to run to safety, but he collapsed on the driveway of the home and died.
A Hennepin County court clerk says as of Monday, the Grabinger lawsuit file contains only a petition granting a trustee to represent John Grabinger in the legal proceedings–a requirement in wrongful death cases in Minnesota.
A legal expert tells us the wrongful death suit is probebly being filed now because the statute of limitations on such an action is two years—running out in just two weeks.