Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad, now under the control of billionaire Warren Buffett, has been exposed for having a history of judicial misconduct in court cases involving collisions or workplace injuries.

 

An investigation by the Minneapolis Star Tribune found 13 cases in which judges around the country disciplined BNSF after it or its lawyers had broken rules designed to ensure fair legal proceedings. The railroad wound up being cited for destroying evidence and other actions that obstructed the legal process.

 

In Minnesota, Judge Ellen Maas said BNSF had engaged in a “staggering” pattern of misconduct, destroying evidence, misrepresenting the facts and obstructing the investigation into the details of a 2003 collision at a rail crossing in which four young people were killed. A fine of more than $4 million was imposed after the judge declared the company had engaged in “systematic exploitation of the civil-justice system of a pervasiveness seldom seen outside of John Grisham novels.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

From Minnesota to California, BNSF Corp. Has Drawn Judicial Penalties for Misconduct. (by Paul McEnroe and Tony Kennedy, Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Derailed: A Case Goes Awry (by Paul Levy, Minneapolis Star Tribune)