Castle Rock – A Douglas County jury ordered Union Pacific Railroad to pay Missy Martin more than $11 million for injuries she received in a train collision in 2002.
Martin’s parents wept as the jury’s verdict was announced Thursday afternoon. Their 19-year-old daughter was left with irreversible brain damage when a UP train slammed into her car after it had stalled at a Castle Rock crossing in 2002.
“It was a relief,” Martin said, struggling to speak because of her physical ailments. “I couldn’t keep track of how much (in damages). My brain doesn’t work that fast anymore.”
The jury of five women and one man awarded Martin and her family $6 million for future medical expenses, $350,000 for permanent impairment, $150,000 for pain and suffering, and $600,000 for past medical expenses. The railroad company also must pay $4 million in punitive damages.
Jurors found that Union Pacific knew the rail crossing at Front and Fifth streets was dangerous and that the train’s crew should have stopped well before it reached the intersection. The train engineer had testified that the car appeared to be just off the tracks.
Union Pacific attorney Steve Napper said there will be an appeal.
“We’re obviously disappointed, and we felt there was an error in the trial,” Napper said as he hurried from a group of news media cameras at the Douglas County courthouse.
Train engineer Dannie Dolan, named in the lawsuit, declined to comment. It was not clear what, if anything, he will be paying in the verdict.
Since the accident, Martin has had to go through extensive therapy and rehabilitation. The former Douglas County High School cheerleader now walks with a cane, and her speech is slurred.
The verdict should send a strong message that Union Pacific should be held accountable when it fails to protect the public, said David Martin, Missy’s father.
“It’s still not over for her, though,” Martin said of his daughter’s problems. “She’s got a long struggle ahead of her still with her health, but this will help.”
Union Pacific has been dealt far costlier blows in court cases. In February 2004, Christopher Barber was awarded $30 million from Union Pacific after he suffered a spinal-cord injury when a train collided with the truck he was riding in in Arkansas.
In a case in Louisiana, the railroad agreed last year to a $65.5 million settlement. More than 12,000 people had filed claims after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in Eunice, La.
The award for Missy Martin is one of the largest in Colorado history involving a railroad-crossing case, according to her attorney, Robert Schuetze of Boulder.
“I felt justice was done,” said Schuetze, who has handled dozens of lawsuits against railroad companies involved in rail-crossing accidents. “Because of the amount of the award, it’ll allow Missy’s parents to go back to being her mom and dad instead of being just her caregivers.”
During closing arguments Thursday morning, Union Pacific’s attorneys argued that the train’s crew didn’t need to stop because Dolan would have missed Martin’s car when it stalled under a crossing gate on Nov. 12, 2002.
They blamed the accident on the actions of Martin’s ex-boyfriend, Vinny Veruchi, who tried to push Martin’s car across the tracks with his pickup.
The Martin family claimed the crew had enough time to stop the train before striking Missy’s car. Instead, the family’s attorneys argued, the train proceeded at almost 40 mph.
Schuetze said the precaution of stopping the train would have put the crew only six to seven minutes behind schedule.
“In any case, this vehicle was clearly in harm’s way,” he told jurors. “Mr. Dolan sounded the train’s horn to say, ‘Get out of my way, here we come,’ and he rolled the dice that she would move.”
Schuetze then asked jurors to send a message to Union Pacific’s board of directors by hitting them in the pocketbook.
“Union Pacific is not acting like a good corporate citizen when they come here and say they take no exception to what this train crew did,” Schuetze said. “Make sure the board of directors hears your statement in the only language they understand – money.”
After the verdict, the family returned to their home just outside Castle Rock. Sitting in the living room, surrounded by pictures of Missy and her siblings, the family talked about the future and the past.
Her father confided that there were times when Missy wished she hadn’t survived the crash, never wanting to be a burden on her family.
Missy said she still wants to finish college and hopes to be a nurse.
But her biggest wish is a simpler one: To be a wife and a mom. While chatting with her family, Missy recalled watching “Cinderella” and “Beauty and the Beast” while growing up.
Missy said she still believes in happy endings.
Barbara Hudson of the Denver Post research library contributed to this report.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1173 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
