21 March 2007
CP Rail Accused of Destroying Documents
| |
Neal Foot.
|
Bismark North Dakota USA - Lawyers for people suing
Canadian Pacific Railway over a 2002 train derailment and chemical spill near Minot, N.D., say the railway should lose its federal
protection against lawsuits because it intentionally destroyed documents.
A brief filed in federal court in Minneapolis alleges that Neal Foot, a Canadian Pacific senior vice-president, ordered
railway employees to destroy e-mails, personal notes, drawings, and photographs.
Railway lawyer Tim Thornton did not immediately return a telephone call Wednesday seeking comment.
The plaintiffs say the document destruction went against a federal magistrate's order, a few weeks after the derailment, that all
evidence in the case be preserved.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland ruled in March last year that the railway is federally protected from lawsuits stemming from the
derailment. His ruling is being challenged before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The plaintiffs' lawyers have asked a federal judge in Minnesota to remove the protection because of the alleged document destruction.
The 18 Jan 2002, derailment on the west edge of Minot released a cloud of anhydrous ammonia, a toxic farm fertilizer.
One man, John Grabinger, died trying to escape and hundreds of other people were treated for burns and breathing problems. Lawsuits
against the railway sought damages for more than 1,000 people.
|
