• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Selma Family Sues Over Driver's Death: Marion 'J.R.' Coots Was Killed in 2003 at a Train Crossing.

Posted on: Thursday, 8 June 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Pablo Lopez, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Jun. 8--A Selma family is seeking more than $1.9 million in damages from the city of Selma and Union Pacific Railroad in connection with the death of a popular tow-truck driver who was killed by a train in 2003.

The death of Marion "J.R." Coots on June 6, 2003, led to the closing of downtown North Street and its unguarded Union Pacific Railroad crossing, the only unguarded crossing in Fresno County.

Fresno lawyer Stephen Cornwell, who represents the Coots family, said in opening statements of the Fresno County Superior Court civil trial that Selma and Union Pacific officials were negligent because they knew the railroad crossing was dangerous, but balked at making it safe for the public.

Cornwell is seeking $1.9 million in economic damages, saying Coots' family lost out on J.R. Coots' earnings as the co-owner of a tow-truck business that he would have eventually owned if he weren't killed.

Cornwell also wants jurors to determine damages for pain and suffering for Coots' wife, Natalie; son James, 21; and daughter Sidney, 6.

The trial in Judge M. Bruce Smith's courtroom is expected to take two months.

The railroad's lawyer, Michael Johnson, and the city's lawyer, David Overstreet IV, will give their opening statements today.

A key issue in the trial will be whether former Selma Mayor Ralph Garcia threatened a railroad crew that wanted to install a crossing gate on North Street in 1997.

"I'll have you arrested," Garcia allegedly told the crew, according to Cornwell. Garcia has denied the allegation.

About 20 trains travel Union Pacific tracks daily, while hundreds of vehicles crossed the tracks on North Street daily.

Overstreet, in court papers, said the fatal collision was tragic, but contended Coots failed to obey the railroad's flashing-red warning signals or heed the train's whistle.

Cornwell, however, said, the railroad warning signal was ineffective because it was 13 feet from the curb and hard for motorists to see. Railroad safety experts say warning signals should be no more than 4 feet 1inch from the curb.

Coots was towing a vehicle west on North Street when his truck was hit by a southbound train about 10:30 a.m.

The train was traveling between 43 mph and 49 mph and Coots was traveling about 15 mph, Cornwell said. Experts will testify that Coots had two to four seconds to react to the train's whistle.

"His truck was thrown up in the air and twisted like a toy," Cornwell told jurors. Coots died at the crossing.

Both defendants share the blame in Coots' death, Cornwell said, because the railroad crossing belongs to Union Pacific and North Street was controlled by the city.

Union Pacific and city officials knew the street was deadly because five motorists had been killed and several others had been seriously injured after being hit by trains between 1993 and 2003, Cornwell said.

The first two fatal victims were intoxicated and tried to beat the train, Cornwell said. But the rest of the victims didn't know a train was coming until it was too late.

Cornwell said Union Pacific trainmen will testify that the North Street crossing is "notoriously dangerous" because vehicles drove across the tracks when a train was approaching as if the signals were not working.

Cornwell also told jurors that Selma city officials agreed in late 1990 to study the issue and put up temporary stop signs at the crossing. At the same time, however, the city was working on putting curbs and gutters on North Street to make it more accessible for motorists to go downtown, Cornwell said.

The curbs and gutters were installed on North Street, but the stop signs or railroad gates were never put up, Cornwell said.

The reporter can be reached at plopez@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6434.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:UNP,

Source: The Fresno Bee

More News in this Category