Jury awards $4.3 million for BNSF crash injuries

A Cascade County jury awarded a BNSF Railway employee injured in a 2011 train collision $4.3 million in compensation Tuesday, following a civil trial held in Cascade County District Court.

The employee, Michael Schnittgen, was serving as a conductor on a BNSF train July 19, 2011, when the moving train was accidentally routed onto a siding where it collided with a parked maintenance train along Gerber Road southeast of Great Falls.

A BNSF spokesman in Great Falls wasn’t immediately available for comment Wednesday afternoon.

BNSF ultimately admitted it was negligent in the collision, which occurred, court documents filings say, after a longtime railroad employee failed to properly align the switch that set the moving train astray.

However, its attorneys contested some of the injury claims made by Schnittgen, arguing that some of his health issues weren’t caused by the collision and that he had failed to take action to mitigate some of his injuries.

The BNSF employee whose mistake caused the collision was dismissed, according to court filings.

The purpose of the jury trial, which opened last week, was to determine the appropriate amount of damages to award Schnittgen, who claimed in filings by his attorneys that he had suffered severe back injuries and a head injury in the collision.

The jury ultimately settled on the $4.3 million verdict, awarding Schnittgen $2.5 million for lost wages and benefits, $1.5 million for pain and suffering and $294,000 for future medical expenses.

“It’s a just verdict for Mike,” said David Paoli of the Missoula-based Paoli Kutzman law firm, which represented Schnittgen. “We’re very appreciative of the jury’s hard work.”

Anthony Nicastro, one of the attorneys representing BNSF, declined to comment on the verdict or say whether the company’s legal team plans to appeal.

The 110-car train was traveling from Laurel to Shelby at the time of the collision, a BNSF spokesman said in 2011.

Three engines and 10 cars, carrying cement and gravel, were derailed in the incident.

At the time, authorities reported that one of the engineers on board the train was hospitalized after suffering a non-life-threatening head injury.

Reach Staff Writer Eric Dietrich at 791-6527 or edietrich@greatfallstribune

.com. He can also be followed on Twitter at @GFTrib_EricD.