Union Pacific Railroad Accident Litigation
At the time of her accident, JoAnn Beffert was an energetic and hard working supervisor at a railway cargo terminal. In February 2001, Ms. Beffert was parked in her pick-up truck in the Seattle Union Pacific railroad yard, waiting to give a co-worker a lift. Suddenly, a wheel on a 175,000 pound “piggy packer” crane, a crane used to load and unload containers off railroad cars, broke through a concrete lid on the yard surface, causing the crane to tip over. The crane crashed onto its left side, landing squarely on the pick-up truck, and crushing it. The dashboard of the truck pinned down Ms. Beffert’s legs, and she was unable to move. It took over four hours, and two attempts by the rescuers at the scene with another heavy duty crane, before the fallen crane was lifted up enough to extract Ms. Beffert from the wreckage.
Ms. Beffert suffered numerous fractures of both legs and knees. Following surgery to both legs, Ms. Beffert remained hospitalized for 12 days, and was then transferred to a rehabilitation center, where she remained for an additional 14 days. Despite aggressive rehabilitation efforts, Ms. Beffert was unable to return to work for over a year from the accident date. She remained with some limited motion in her legs, significant scars, degenerative arthritis in her hip, and continuing instability and pain in her right knee.
Marler Clark, on Ms. Beffert’s behalf, thoroughly investigated the accident facts, retained engineering and construction site experts, and determined that the Union Pacific had failed to properly prevent heavy machinery such as the crane from moving over and parking on the concrete lid which eventually failed, causing the crane to tip over. The railroad contested its liability, a lawsuit was filed, and litigation continued for many months. On the eve of trial, the case was settled for the sum of $1,000,000.
To read news about the Union Pacific auto accident and the ensuing litigation, visit the Marler Clark News Archives.