A lawsuit has been filed in connection with a train-car accident that resulted in the death of three Trenton residents.
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Nancy Wilson, the mother of the late Adam Romesburg, filed the suit Tuesday in the Circuit Division of the Grundy County Circuit Court. Listed as defendants in the case are Union Pacific Railroad Company, UP employees Gerald Shrum and Ed O. Taft and the late Nancy Nikkole Groves. Ms. Groves was the driver of a car in which Romesburg, 30, was a passenger on the morning of Dec. 9, 2009. The vehicle and a Union Pacific train collided at the First Street railroad crossing. Ms. Groves, 24, and a third person, 28-year-old Nina Spencer, also died in the accident. A Jackson County attorney, Robert Dwyer Murphy, has been appointed as a representative of Ms. Groves.
In the petition, Ms. Wilson alleges that Ms. Groves was negligently operating a 2001 Plymouth Neon when the accident occurred. She also alleges that Shrum, who lives in Pleasanton, KS, and Taft, who resides in Plattsburg, were negligent in maintaining and operating the railroad, which resulted in Romesburg’s death. She alleges that the railroad crossing is unusually hazardous and dangerous in that the view of the driver was obstructed by a steep incline with a severe hump and by greenery adjacent to First Street, including trees, bushes, weeds and other vegetation. Ms. Wilson also alleges that passive signing does not indicate when the train is approaching the crossing, making it a hazard and dangerous.
Ms. Wilson is seeking a judgement against each defendant that “will fairly and reasonably compensate” her for her loss, including punitive damages.
Ms. Wilson is demanding a jury hear the case, which is currently in the court of Third Judicial Circuit Judge Jack Peace.