Updated: Monday, July 29 2013, 10:49 PM CDT
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (CBS 2/FOX 28) - A local law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against some Iowa railroads. According to its website, the Sam Sheronick Law Firm in Cedar Rapids says plaintiffs believe the railroads made the 2008 flooding in Cedar Rapids worse.
I can’t remember – did any bridges occupied by rock filled cars actually collapse in the Cedar Rapids area? I remember someone lost a bridge to the flood, but I thought that one was at Waterloo, which is considerably upstream.
The Q&A on the law firm’s website does not positively state that any bridge collapsed; it talks about what might have happened.
I think the Crandic’s ex-MILW bridge collapsed, at least partially into the Cedar River. They had placed cars on the bridge to keep it in place.
I imagine the real target is the UP. It has two (ex-CNW) bridges in the CR area. Either way, both are, or are part of, large corporations that generate lots of money. The kind lawyers love to sue. (The Crandic is part of the Alliant Energy family.)
I see that there is another law firm out of California involved. I wonder it they have dealt with the UP before and are the ones really behind this. Looking for opportunities to sue large corporations on behalf of the “little guy,” but pocketing most of the payout should they get a settlement of some kind.
Jeff
One bridge collapsed nearly completely, another was partially washed away and one was not, um, damaged at least not much.
The partial wash out was the former Burlington line south out of town. The only use it had was as storage for rail cars in a repair shop area at the north end. What used to be the track south of it is now buried under what is affectionately called ‘Mt. Trashmore’! No great loss in the S half falling down. Google Earth shows the piers and northern spans are still there.
The collapsed bridge was CRANDIC’s connection from the downtown area to their yard on the SW side and was used a lot as a switching lead for servicing Penford Products on the west side of the river. Workers were just finishing up tying down some ballast cars when the bridge began to go, but managed to be off the bridge before it fell. All but one span (west) were knocked over. Here is a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_qll8ulQMw
I created this by taking one photo from the top of each newel post of the city street bridge north of the RR bridge (one pass at normal angle and then back again at a zoomed-in level)… not the greatest video, but if you pause it a lot you can see all the debris that was in the water. The blue barrels were floatation devices used on houseboats a couple of miles upriver.
A MESS!
A lot of people have wondered who climbed out on the pile to retrieve the black “tote” that can be seen resting so lightly on the top of one of the girders… it was there for a couple of weeks and then one day it was gone!
The bridge that remained relatively unscathed is the U.P. (former C&NW) bridge that connects their yard behind Quaker Oats on the NE side, to the Beverly Yard on the SW side.
It acted primarily as a “sieve” and “garbarator” (?) to grind up th
The endearing scumbag excuses for lawyers refer to the major 2008 flooding as “minor, run of the mill flood was turned into a catastrophic disaster as a result of, among other things, actions taken by railroads and others to protect their property at the expense of property owners in the Cedar Rapids area”. Would be interesting to hear how that explanation accounts for all the flooding damage in eastern Iowa in 2008, most in no way connected to the Cedar River or Cedar Rapids. The flood of 2008 was definitely a major event.
Of course, these lawyers also call Hurricane Katrina a “garden variety” hurricane, claiming that all the damage was man-made.
Class actions suit such as this one - even when they are won convincingly - result in peanuts for the members of the class and a cash cow bonanaza for the lawyers.
Not just eastern Iowa, but most of the North Central and SW parts of the state. I am here to tell you, nothing, I repeat nothing in Iowa could have contained those rains. I watched as it flooded everything in Mason City. I remember vividly the scenes and the people days after.
No one here came out blaming anyone except Mother Nature. That’s it.
By the time that water finally reached CR, and was matched in volume from the rains there as well as other rivers, it was massive. I saw photos of the E/W main line in CR under over 3 feet of water. Without loosing bridges, it was a huge expense for them, and I am guessing every other railroad in the area.
This is nothing more than a fishing expedition.
A law firm in Cedar Rapids takes point in the public eye. Another law firm in California partners on the suit.
Are there law firms that specialize in suing a certain railroad? Whatever they see an opportunity, do they partner with a law firm in the vicinity of the event relating to the suit?
In a ‘big time’ Personal Injury suit, what is the lawyers ‘fee’? 30% of the recovery? 40% of the recovery?
Now, if the legal firm has to ‘create’ and ‘certify’ the class for the class action suit - what is the legal firms ‘fee’? 50%, 60% ???
There is big money here - and it isn’t getting to those that were ‘harmed’.
I think these hotshots are just trying to prove a point. That they can’t win. Where is their proof? I’ll tell you where, Mt Trashmore. Buried forever more. [swg]