Behind closed doors at the Daley Center, 12 jurors cheered Monday when they agreed to award violin prodigy Rachel Barton nearly $30 million–one of the largest personal injury judgments in Cook County history.
After about 17 hours of deliberation over three days, the jury found for Barton, whose left leg was severed by a Metra train in 1995, and against the two defendants, Metra and the former Chicago & North Western railroad.
The case had offered dramatically detailed testimony from the 24-year-old violinist as she painfully recounted for jurors the winter day in 1995 when she became pinned against the doors of a commuter train and was dragged more than 360 feet before she fell under its wheels.
For three weeks, two of the most highly respected personal injury attorneys in the county squared off in the Daley Center to argue the issues of negligence. Barton’s attorney, Robert Clifford, blamed the railroad for not requiring train operators to take a “second look” to make sure all passengers were clear of the train. C. Barry Montgomery, representing the railroad, asserted Barton shared some responsibility for the tragedy, saying she sacrificed her personal safety to save her $500,000 Amati violin.
In the end, jurors decided to award Barton $30 million in compensatory damages but reduced that amount by 4.5 percent–the share of fault in the accident they decided was Barton’s.
In addition, they levied $859,500 in punitive damages against the former C&NW, now owned by Union Pacific. Metra, as a government entity, is immune from punitive damages.
The award was substantially less than the astounding $566 million that Clifford had sought for Barton but more than the $5 million that railroad attorneys had argued was fair.
Following the verdict, a beaming Barton declared, “This has been a long time coming and has been a very difficult ordeal.
“I am relieved that it is over and I can now get on with my life. And I’m very thankful for the outcome. In the end, as it was in the beginning of this terrible journey, I hope to be known for my music and not for my injuries,” she said at a press conference.
The decision to side with Barton was fairly unanimous from the start of deliberations, according to several jurors. Once inside the jury room, they disregarded the elaborate reenactments of the moments before the accident–staged with an enormous model of a gray train door and vestibule–“because both sides demonstrated in a different way,” according to juror Alina Andrzejewski. Nor did they dwell on the double-look system that could have prevented the accident, said Harry Murray, another juror.
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Instead, they reached their conclusions based largely on Barton’s testimony.
“It was Rachel herself because she was so honest on the witness stand,” Andrzejewski said.
Later jury debate centered mainly on whether Barton, who must use a wheelchair or crutches, would need to employ an attendant to help care for her, and whether she deserved punitive damages.
“It was hard,” Andrzejewski added. “We had a lot of things to look into and we went point by point, witness by witness. That’s why it took us such a long time.”
Because Illinois has a comparative negligence law, jurors parceled out the blame. While holding Barton 4.5 percent accountable, they said the former C&NW, which had contracted its service to Metra, was 62.5 percent to blame and Metra was 33 percent at fault.
Juror Murray said the group wanted the punitive damages to be high enough to send a message without going overboard. “The verdict was punishment enough,” Murray said.
The Barton monetary damages fell short of a $34 million jury award made last November to a Palos Hills woman who was partially paralyzed in a 1994 auto accident.
Barton’s total award included $9 million for disability, $8 million for disfigurement, $8 million for pain and suffering, $3 million for future pain and suffering, $104,370 in lost and future wages, $672,570 in medical bills, and a present cash value of $1,293,180 for future medical care. The total Barton was awarded is $29,595,649, which includes the punitive damages.
Montgomery called the verdict a loss for Metra and society.
“It’s hard to comprehend,” Montgomery said. “I just wonder whether or not in this day and age if there still is such a thing as taking responsibility for yourself. Corporations are definitely not treated on the same basis as an individual and it’s time for society to step back and take a look at what is happening. I’m not looking for backlash. I’m just looking for sanity.”
Montgomery continued to blame Barton for the accident, saying she could have avoided injury had she let go of the strap when her violin case became trapped in the train.
“Unquestionably she could have avoided it,” he said. “Sympathy is not supposed to play any role but the size of the award leads me to believe that was not the case.”
The most emotionally draining day of the trial in Cook County Circuit Court Judge Allen Freeman’s courtroom came when Barton took the stand to recount the details of the accident.
She also talked about intimate details of her life, including her estranged relationship with her mother, personal, awkward moments with her boyfriend, her self-image and the pain she experiences, even in the leg she no longer has.
The accident occurred on Jan. 16, 1995, when the then 20-year-old classical violinist from Lakeview traveled by Metra to Winnetka to teach a music class.
When Metra train No. 317 began rolling into the Elm Street station, Barton testified she gathered her four bags–a purse, her violin, a book bag and a food bag–and arranged them on her left shoulder.
As she was walking out of the train, Barton testified she felt a bump, and then the doors closed. Barton looked at her bags and realized the violin was trapped in the train. She was outside, with her left shoulder pinned against the train.
Both sides agreed Barton had about 10 seconds before the train started moving. Based on her experience riding the CTA, she assumed the conductor would see her when he looked out. Rather than free herself, she said, she tried to get the door open.
But the train began creeping forward.
“No one looked. No one heard me. The train started to move and I instantaneously lost my footing and was pulled to the ground. I realized, `Oh my God, the train is moving and I’m going to get killed.’ I’m bumping along my butt on the gravelly part next to the wheels.”
Barton also testified about the minutes after her leg was severed.
“All I could see was blood and my left leg was gone. I didn’t know so much pain could exist.. . . I thought maybe if someone finds me I’ll have a chance to stay alive, ” she said.
A train passenger who heard Barton’s screams alerted the conductor to stop the train, jammed open the doors with a ballpoint pen and came to Barton’s aid.
Both attorneys agreed that the lawsuit boiled down to common sense.
Clifford argued that common sense meant that a train shouldn’t move when a passenger is stuck in the door. Montgomery countered that common sense meant that Barton should have freed herself but didn’t do so to save her violin.
Clifford also charged that Metra had ample evidence that train doors could trap riders even before Barton’s accident. And he noted that C&NW failed to adopt a two-look safety measure by conductors before closing train doors, which Metra had made its policy.
The train line relied on a system used by the majority of commuter trains that when the doors are shut, a green light indicates to the engineer that it is safe to proceed. The second-look system is an additional glance by a designated trainman.
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While Barton’s relatives were not in the courtroom, her grandmother in North Miami, Fla., Juanita Wilson, who helped pay for the violinist’s lessons, waited anxiously for word of the verdict. “I’m very happy the jury was able to exonerate her and realized that she was telling the truth.”
Metra commuters Monday had mixed reactions to the jury’s verdict. Moe Siddiqui, who commutes every day from Elgin, said Barton deserves some money but not $29 million.
“She ran out (of the train), and she shouldn’t have to run out,” said Siddiqui, 31, a therapist who works with cancer patients. “She gave up her leg in order to keep the violin in her hand.”
Yet others said the jury should have awarded Barton much more.
“When it comes down to it, no amount of money could ever replace what she’s lost,” said Tischar Brock, 26, a South Side health-care worker. “If you lose something vital, they can never replace that. That’s a lifelong disability that she’s going to have to deal with.”