A federal judge in Atlanta has thrown out an effort by CSX Transportation Inc. to force General Mills Inc. to reimburse the railroad $16 million it paid to a General Mills employee who suffered a catastrophic injury in a 2005 rail accident.
A federal jury in 2012 awarded employee Doug Burchfield $20.5 million in compensatory damages after Burchfield lost his legs when a rail car with a faulty brake plowed into two other rail cars, and all three cars rolled over Burchfield. Both sides appealed the verdict—which held the railroad 100 percent liable for Burchfield’s injuries. But after court-ordered mediation, the case settled for $16 million.
