Confidential Settlement for 26 Plaintiffs After Train Hit Midland Veterans Parade Float, Killing Four

On November 15, 2012, a flatbed semi-trailer decorated as a parade float joined the Hunt for Heroes Veterans Day procession in Midland, Texas. It carried twenty-six people: twelve wounded veterans, twelve of their spouses and companions, and two civilian escorts headed to a charity benefit for injured service members.

At 4:36 that afternoon, the trailer crossed a Union Pacific grade crossing near the intersection of Garfield and Front Street. A Union Pacific freight train approached at 62 miles per hour. The crossing gates had only begun to lower when the train struck. Four veterans died at the scene or shortly after at Midland Memorial Hospital: Lawrence Boivin, an Army veteran and Silver Star and Purple Heart recipient; William Lubbers, an Army veteran who earned three Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart; Joshua Michael, an Army veteran and two-time Purple Heart recipient; and Gary Stouffer, a Marine Corps Purple Heart veteran. Sixteen others were injured, some of them severely.

The National Transportation Safety Board found two distinct failures. The city of Midland and the parade organizer had not notified Union Pacific that a float convoy would cross its tracks and had operated without the required railroad crossing permits for multiple years. At the same time, Union Pacific had agreed with the city to program the grade-crossing warning signals for 30 seconds of advance activation but had actually programmed them for only 25 seconds.

Forty-three survivors and family members filed suit against Union Pacific in the 441st District Court in Midland County. All 43 had already settled separate claims against the float truck driver, the parade organizer, and the company that provided the vehicle. The railroad litigation continued on a separate track.

Kevin Glasheen, working jointly with co-counsel Bob Pottroff, represented 26 of the 43 plaintiffs, including families of the four deceased veterans and survivors with the most severe physical injuries. Their claims focused on Union Pacific's signal-timing shortfall, the train's speed given the known parade activity in the area, and the railroad's failure to coordinate safety at a crossing it knew would be in active public use.

In January 2015, those 26 plaintiffs reached a confidential settlement with Union Pacific. The amount was not publicly disclosed. Kevin Glasheen said clients were "very satisfied with the results" and that the settlement "gives them the security and comfort they will need while they try to rebuild their lives." The remaining 17 plaintiffs went to trial in the 441st District Court on January 26, 2015.