BNSF Railway
BNSF comes clean but residents skeptical PDF Print E-mail
Written by Michael Jamison   
Wednesday, 15 July 2025 21:42
WHITEFISH, Mont. -- Four months ago, railroad officials began offering to buy homes in a trendy Whitefish neighborhood, discreetly suggesting the ground beneath might be contaminated, according to The Missoulian.

On Tuesday, representatives for Burlington Northern Santa Fe admitted they have no evidence of contamination; rather, they were hoping the property purchases would help to limit future legal liabilities.

"But you can't un-ring the bell once it's been rung," said Jan Metzmaker. "They've done quite a bit of damage around here with this real estate play. People's livelihoods have been hurt, and we still don't know what to believe."

Metzmaker is director of the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau, which keeps offices in Conductor's Row. The facility is mixed use - residential condos up top, commercial down below -- and is located at the heart of the newly refurbished Railroad District neighborhood.
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New trial ordered for ex-BNSF worker PDF Print E-mail
Written by Billings Gazette   
Wednesday, 10 June 2025 11:21
BILLINGS, Mont. - A Yellowstone County judge has ordered a new trial in the case of a former BNSF Railway worker whose injury claims against the company were rejected by a jury, according to the Billings Gazette.

Judge Russell Fagg agreed with attorneys for Daniel Bircher, who filed motions after the verdict in March arguing that the judge was wrong to allow as evidence the outcome of prior jury verdicts in similar cases.

Fagg said in the order issued May 21 that he had "reluctantly" granted Bircher's request for a new trial.

"Although the court would rather be staked to an ant pile than retry this two-week case, the court concludes it erred when allowing the repetitive motion claim portion of jury verdicts in (two previous cases) to be considered by the jury in this case," Fagg said in the order.

A new trial date has not been set.

Bircher worked as a trainman and engineer at BNSF for nearly 30 years. The lawsuit claimed he suffered repetitive and cumulative stress injuries as a result of the railroad company's negligence and carelessness.

Similar cases against the railroad have resulted recently in large jury verdicts in favor of former employees. In April 2008, a jury awarded $1.2 million in damages to a former BNFS engineer who suffered a spinal injury in a 2006 accident.

In November 2007, another former BNSF employee was awarded $1.7 million in damages. But in both of those recent cases, the jury also rejected claims that the employees suffered repetitive stress injuries.

In his order, Fagg said he should not have let jurors in the Bircher case consider the verdicts in the similar cases.

Those failed claims were "driven home" by a railway attorney in closing arguments at Bircher's trial, Fagg said. The attorney "discussed the fact that 24 friends and neighbors (of the jurors) had ruled against similar plaintiffs, who had ridden similar track while working for BNSF."

Allowing that evidence "undoubtedly could have had a significant impact on the jury's decision in this case," the judge said.
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