Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad is fighting the federal government’s attempt to question the company’s general manager about a large 2012 brush fire that damaged 400 acres in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
The federal government filed a lawsuit against the Hammond-based company in March, claiming that two of its trains started the fire that caused $89,000 in damage to the park, including to a butterfly habitat.
The lawsuit argues that two Indiana Harbor trains that were driving by the Lakeshore near County Line Road on March 10, 2012, at the time were not properly maintained, allowing hot cinders to fall out and start the fire.
As part of the lawsuit, the government is requesting to depose General Manager Pat Daly, but Indiana Harbor filed a motion for a protective order last week in the U.S. District Court in Hammond asking that he not be deposed.
The company argues in its motion that Daly has not done any investigation into the fire or talk with anyone, including representatives from the federal government, about it. He therefore has nothing of value to say to the government, the motion argues.
However, a response from the federal government argues that it does not have to tell defendants what questions they plan on asking Daly and that the rules of evidence allow them to ask a broad range of questions to ferret out information that could be connected to the case.
The response also notes that Daly, as the highest ranking employee of Indiana Harbor, is a logical place to start and that it’s unlikely he has no information that could be useful to the government’s case, such as how the company handles claims from the federal government are handled.
The filings also detail a possible defense for Indiana Harbor. The federal government claims the brush fire started in the afternoon, but Indiana Harbor cited in its filing a Post-Tribune article from 2012 that said the first 911 calls were made to the Gary dispatch between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., a time period when Indiana Harbor’s trains were not in the area.
However, the government responded by saying that it had researched 911 calls made to both Gary and Porter County from 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m. and found no such calls. The first ones were not reported until after 2 p.m., which is when two Indiana Harbor trains were passing through.