Suit Says Railroad Fixed Settlements

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. conspired with lawyers for railroad workers suffering job-related hearing loss to keep settlement payments low, costing workers hundreds of millions of dollars, a lawsuit alleges.

The complaint, filed in federal court in Seattle, says the No. 2 U.S. railroad colluded with a Portland, Ore.-based law firm that represents several railway unions to fix the settlement of more than 4,000 claims by employees who said their hearing was damaged.

The railroad and the law firm, Bricker, Zakovics, Querin, Thompson & Ritchey, created a secret, predetermined matrix for assessing the extent of hearing loss and the money an employee would receive, the complaint claims.

Settlement amounts were as much as 10 times lower than awards given for similar claims taken to trial, according to the suit.

“We allege that this action was grossly unjust to the workers and, we believe, patently illegal,” said Steve Berman, the lawyer representing one of three named plaintiffs.

The complaint says that the top amount paid to a worker suffering profound hearing loss was $65,000. The railroad and Bricker, Zakovics agreed that no complaint handled by the firm would go to trial, the suit says.

A partner in the firm, Stephen Thompson, declined to comment, saying that the firm had not seen the lawsuit.

A spokesman for the Fort Worth-based railroad said officials have not seen the complaint.