Injured Railroad Worker Loses Lawsuit, Gets Nothing

On a cold New Year’s Even in 1998, Charles Moore of Granite City, Wisconsin was trying to open a frozen mechanism on a locomotive derrick crane when tragedy struck. A railroad car that had its handbrakes removed rolled down an inclined track, crushing Moore between the crane and the railroad car. The experience was traumatic. During the ensuing trial, Moore testified that he couldn’t even remember the accident, which cost him a left leg, until a month later.

Moore’s Doctor, Christian Paletta, described in detail the permanent injuries that his patient had sustained. Damage to his colon and pelvis made the use of a prosthetic device impossible. Moore himself testified that he still felt “phantom pain” in the missing leg that often felt as if someone were stabbing him with a screwdriver.

His wife, Peggy, was also damaged by the accident in very painful ways. She “suffered a loss of consortium in that she has been deprived of her husband’s society, companionship and conjugal relationship.”

Moore’s personal injury attorney, John Kujawski of O’Fallon, attempted to prove that the railroad had provided his client with defective equipment in a state of poor repair. He recommended that the jury award Moore in excess of $3 million.

The railroad, however, maintained among other things that Moore had turned his back on a piece of rail equipment without a spotter–in other words that the injuries were Moore’s own fault.

Ultimately, the jury believed the railroad, and ruled in its favor, leaving the Moores with nothing.

Fair? We can’t say for sure. In any event, a man’s life, and his livelihood, have been shattered, and he and his wife now have nowhere to turn for the money he would need to rebuild them.