Personal Injury Attorney W. Winston Briggs Comments on the December 30th Rail Crash and Fire in Casselton, North Dakota

    CASSELTON, ND, January 10, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Initial reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on the December 30th rail crash and fire in Casselton, ND have begun to outline what happened when a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train carrying crude oil collided with a derailed rail car and exploded. While it will be months before a final report is released, so far investigators have found no red flags in the track or signaling mechanisms.

The wreck of the trains near Casselton resulted in a massive, oil-fueled fire that could be seen in Fargo, 25 miles away. Because of its immensity, firefighters were forced to let the fire die out on its own. The Cass County Sheriff's Office strongly recommended an evacuation of the entire City of Casselton and anyone residing five miles to the south and east of Casselton.

One of the dangers of such a large series of explosions involving hazardous materials is the release of massive amounts of potentially harmful vapors into the atmosphere. The extent of the danger from smoke, fumes, toxins and vapors is often not known immediately as first responders react to much more obvious issues at the scene of a large incident like the Casselton railway crash. In addition, experts are often not immediately on the scene to evaluate the harmful effects from not just the escaping hazardous material, but also the unintended chemical combinations created by the accidental mix of the smoke, fumes, toxins and vapors. In addition to the risks faced by first responders, workers, passengers and nearby residents may unknowingly be in harm's way.

Even when an explosion is relatively contained, like the one in Casselton, it can nonetheless pose a serious danger to nearby populations. Residents might think they are safe if they are not forced to evacuate or directly threatened by flames. However, the release of hazardous materials in a chemical explosion or spill can still result in severe injuries. In fact, smoke inhalation from a single occurrence can result in a lung injury known as Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome (or "RADS".) RADS requires a massive exposure to a chemical, vapor or smoke with irritating qualities - exactly like the Casselton fire.

According to attorney W. Winston Briggs, an authority on RADS injury lawsuits, "the Casselton train incident presents a classic example of the type of case where people can suffer severe respiratory injuries such as RADS. With RADS, people have a onetime exposure to a chemical, vapor or smoke with irritating qualities that damages their respiratory system and from then on people have breathing problems. If anyone inhaled the noxious smoke from this terrible incident, they could easily suffer from RADS or other similar lung injuries."

Often misdiagnosed by physicians, RADS causes inhalation and airway injuries that can last for years or even a lifetime. The condition requires diagnosis and treatment by specialized physicians, including pulmonologists. RADS was first described by Dr. Stuart Brooks and his colleagues at the University of South Florida in 1985 as a type of irritant-induced asthma that follows a massive exposure to smoke, gas, vapor or fumes. Among other defining factors, a RADS injury is characterized by damage to the bronchial airways which occurs within 24 hours of exposure and typically includes symptoms of coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath.

Victims of smoke inhalation may need to pursue a personal injury case to compensate them for damages and the costs of medical treatment. Typically, personal injury attorneys do not have the experience to handle cases involving the release of hazardous materials, as they are not familiar with the effects of hazardous chemicals on the human body. Nor do most personal injury attorneys know the procedures for handling accidents involving railways, which are significantly different than car accident cases, and may require a court trial. Attorney W. Winston Briggs explains, "When making a RADS claim, people need to understand these cases are complex and require specialized training and medical care. Not all doctors and health care providers understand what they are dealing with or how it should be treated. RADS is often times misdiagnosed and mistreated. And certainly very few lawyers around the country know and understand how to handle and prove a RADS case."

The explosion raises important questions on the safety of transporting crude oil from the area's Bakken oil fields by rail. There is speculation that the crude oil transported from theses new oil deposits in North Dakota is somehow more flammable or corrosive than typical crude oil. On January 8, 2014, only 9 days after the crash, Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, the owner of the BNSF oil train, announced plans to acquire the oil pipeline development unit of Phillips 66 in a $1.4 billion dollar purchase.

In the past year, North Dakota has seen oil production skyrocket - and two thirds of that crude oil is shipped via rail, approximately 700,000 barrels a day. The ability to ship large amounts of crude oil in 100-tanker car trains is one of the cost savings offered by oil production in the Bakken region. However, the danger posed by these cars cannot be ignored. In July 2013, another train carrying Bakken fuel exploded in the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, killing 47 people and destroying much of the town.

In Washington a week after the accident, Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR) called for a hearing on the safety of rail cars that are used to carry hazardous materials, asserting "Despite a significant increased in the number of shipments and the likelihood that shipments are more hazardous than previously thought, the safety of the majority of the rail cars carrying these shipments has not increased." Currently only 25 percent of railroad tank cars that carry crude oil meet the new standards for transporting hazardous materials developed by the American Association of Railroads.

The law firm of W. Winston Briggs has handled multiple cases involving injuries caused by the release of hazardous materials from railroad cars throughout the US, and W. Winston Briggs has handled more RADS cases than any lawyer in the country, helping clients obtain just compensation for their injuries and death claims. Primary areas of expertise are catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, chemical exposure injuries, Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome (RADS) injuries and other lung injuries. The W. Winston Briggs Law Firm is based in Atlanta, GA, and legally represents clients throughout the United States.

Contact Information
W. Winston Briggs Law Firm
1005C Howell Mill Road
Atlanta, GA 30318
404.522.1500
http://www.winstonbriggslaw.com

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