Jury Awards Almost $11 Million in Railroad Death

Amy Rothschild

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After a 2 1/2 week trial, a jury in Jefferson County, Texas awarded around $10.9 million to the family of a woman killed when her truck was hit by a train at a Louisiana railroad crossing. The money will be used to help the family take care of the woman's young daughter who was paralyzed from the chest down as a result of the crash.

In July 2005, the decedent was traveling in a truck with her 4-year-old daughter when she stopped at a stop sign in front of a railroad crossing in Louisiana. The crossing did not have automatic gates or lights. As the decedent pulled across the tracks, she was hit by a Union Pacific train.

Lawyers for the family said that the jury put 65 percent of the blame on Union Pacific, 15 percent of the blame on the decedent and 20 percent blame on the state of Louisiana.

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