Feb 26, 2020 4 min read

A former tractor-trailer driver who experienced physical and psychological injuries from a crash with a train in Centerville two years ago is suing the borough, Norfolk Southern Corp. and others he claims were responsible for dangerous conditions at the crossing.

An attorney for Jacob and Gina Shank, a married couple from Portage County, Ohio, filed the lawsuit on Feb. 20 in the Washington County Court of Common Pleas. The civil case comes as Jacob, 49, fights criminal charges that stem from the March 6, 2018, collision at the crossing near the intersection of Route 88 and Maple Glenn Road.

The lawsuit is separate from the criminal case filed by Centerville police. Those charges include felony counts of causing and risking a catastrophe.

The tracks belong to Norfolk Southern. The train that hit Shank’s rig belonged to CSX but was driven by a Norfolk Southern crew. Shank was a non-union driver for Ohio-based Kuhnle Brothers. The crash spilled 40,000 pounds of hydrochloric acid solution, which created a haze of acrid smoke in the area, prompted the temporary evacuation of nearby houses and required extensive cleanup work.

As the government pursues its case against Shank, he and his wife argue in their lawsuit that various defendants – including Texas-based Forum Energy Technologies, to whose location off Maple Glenn Shank was making a delivery of hydrochloric acid; Mon River Dock, which owns the property; CSX Corp.; the state Department of Transportation; and the state Public Utility Commission – caused the accident by failing to take adequate steps to warn Shank of hazards at the crossing or to ensure adequate safety measures were installed there.

Because of the “negligence, carelessness and recklessness of defendants Norfolk Southern, CSX, Centerville Borough, Mon River Dock and Forum …, plaintiff Jacob T. Shank was caused to suffer serious, permanent and debilitating injuries,” wrote John W. Brown, the Shanks’ attorney.

The accident caused Shank multiple broken and bruised bones, including fractures of his ribs and sternum, plus pain in his back and legs, trouble breathing, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and post-traumatic arthritis, among other health problems, according to court papers. The injuries were severe enough to prevent him from traveling to Washington County for a preliminary hearing until a year after the crash.

Cheryl Matesich, Centerville secretary-treasurer, said she couldn’t answer questions about the case.

“We have not received any notice of that suit being filed,” Matesich said.

CSX officials said the company “does not comment on pending litigation.”

The crash involving Shank was the sixth to occur at the crossing since 1990, records of the Federal Railroad Administration show. In August, the PUC approved an agreement among Norfolk Southern, Centerville officials and PennDOT for measures intended to address hazards there.

The terms of the deal included a new cantilever with a bell, a warning signal on the highway and stop lines on Maple Glenn near the crossing. They also agreed that a sign barring tractor-trailers from making left-hand turns on the highway, as Shank did before the crash, should be installed. Mon River Dock wasn’t party to the settlement, but submitted a letter supporting the additional signage and equipment.

Attorney Carl Parise, who’s defending Shank from criminal charges, similarly maintains that his client wasn’t to blame.

“I believed from the get-go that this accident never would have occurred had there been red flashing lights, a crossing gate – things that you see routinely at other railroad crossings,” Parise said.

Shank is no longer working.

“His life got turned upside down in a split second,” Parise said.

He said video from the cab of the train captured Shank’s truck coming to a complete stop before he turned and drove onto the tracks. Parise has a pending motion before Judge Gary Gilman that seeks the complete video. He did receive some footage, but said it was only “non-consecutive little snippets,” and not what was shown at the preliminary hearing.

Parise wrote in the filing that the prosecution has argued on behalf of Norfolk Southern and CSX that the video is proprietary. He added that he’s been offered the chance to review the footage with his expert witnesses in the district attorney’s office, but he asserts that the defense should have its own copy of the original footage to prepare for trial.

Assistant DA Heather Serrano, who’s prosecuting the case, wasn’t available Tuesday morning and didn’t return a message left at her office.

Representatives for the PUC, PennDOT, Forum and Norfolk Southern didn’t respond to requests for comment. Contact information for Mon River Dock wasn’t available in corporate documents.