A jury awarded $1.3 million to two railroad workers who were injured when a string of railcars struck their locomotive. In 2007, conductor Russell Williams, then 45, and engineer Kelvin Brooks, then 39, were working in the Port Terminal Railroad Association's Pasadena yard when the collision occurred. Williams, the more seriously injured of the two, claimed he sustained a herniated disc that ended his career as a conductor. He underwent two surgeries in 2007, as well as a one-level lumbar fusion in 2008. Brooks sustained meniscus and ACL tears and a herniated lumbar disc. He underwent knee surgery six months after the accident. The PTRA, which controlled the railcars involved in the collision, argued that the crash occurred at only 1 mph and couldn't have caused the injuries.
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