Family of couple struck by train files suit

By Vince Mancini

Published on September 14, 2005

Crystal and David Pope died June 29 after a Chevy Corsica David was driving was struck by a Norfolk Southern train.

The suit, seeking unspecified damages, was filed Aug. 19 in St. Louis Circuit Court. In the suit, two of the plaintiffs acknowledge that negligence on the part of David Pope contributed to the accident.

The suit names the railroad and four employees as defendants. It alleges that Norfolk Southern was negligent in several areas, including failing to maintain a safe crossing, failing to sound a warning at the required distance and operating the train at excessive speed.

A report by the Missouri State Highway Patrol says that David Pope failed to yield to the train and that his "inattention was due to not seeing and yielding to the train before the crash."

The suit was filed nine days before a new Missouri law took effect limiting the venues where injury suits can be filed to the county where the injury occurred.

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