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Omaha Jury Awards Engineer Doug McGinn $850,000.00

The Bremseth Law Firm is proud to announce that after a hard-fought Jury Trial, a 12-person Omaha Jury awarded total damages of $850,000.00 for Union Pacific Engineer Doug McGinn.

On October 19, 2013, Doug McGinn received injuries when operating an 8500 foot manifest train weighing 14,445 tons over the Blair Hill just outside Kennard, NE when he unexpectedly encountered a stopped train with an engine facing them at an Intermediate Signal. Engineer McGinn applied the emergency brakes and he and his conductor both jumped from the moving engine at approximately 29 miles per hour fearing a head on Collison. Thankfully, Mr. McGinn’s train stopped short 280 feet from the standing train and the collision was avoided, but unfortunately the injuries were not. Unbeknownst to the crew, the engine facing them was a DPU unit on train which dispatch failed to warn them would be stopped at that location.

The UP Railroad offered Mr. McGinn $50,000.00 prior to trial in a attempt to settle the case but the offer was rejected. The railroad went on to defend the case by spending close to $100,000.00 on experts attempting to place all of the blame on Engineer McGinn for missing an Approach Signal. We argued that this accident was not the sole responsibility on Doug, but the UPRR lack of care and concern with communication to the crews working in the field. The Jury unanimously rejected the railroad’s attempts to solely blame Mr.McGinn and apportioned fault accordingly.

Mr. McGinn is a proud locomotive engineer and a hard working employee for the company and has been for many years. He still retains all his rights as a locomotive engineer.

The Bremseth Law firm is here to help anyway we can, any questions or comments please call 1-800-545-3733.