Turning
Tragic Loss Into Help For Others
The
Plain Dealer
2/28/98
by:
James F. McCarty
People around Canal
Fulton still approach Vicki Moore to ask how she plans to
spend her cut of the $10 million.
"They all seem
to think we're going to line our pockets with it. They can't
believe that we don't give a damn about the money," Moore
said.
For all of the curiosity-seekers,
Moore promises that the money won in a lawsuit against Conrail
is going to a good cause--but not to her and her husband,
Denny. The couple settled on what they believe is the best
way to bring something good out of an event so tragic.
They're giving the
money away.
The Moores won the
millions in a lawsuit filed after a Conrail freight train
plowed into a car filled with six Northwest High School students
on March 25, 1995.
Three of the teenagers
were killed, including the Moores' 16-year-old son, Ryan.
Their other son, Jason, then 18, was driving the car and
was seriously injured.
At a jury trial
in 1996, traffic and rail experts testified that the Deerfield
Ave. crossing where the accident occurred was extraordinarily
dangerous--the site of eight deaths in seven accidents since
1975. The experts blamed poor sight lines, high speeds and
the absence of warning lights, stop signs or road gates.
Moreover, it appeared
from trial testimony that the fatal crossing was a worst-case
example of a countywide problem. Less than half of Stark
County's 250 rail crossings were equipped with safety features
such as lights, gates, or stop signs, the experts said.
The Moores were
shocked at the findings and feared another family might someday
experience the pain that they felt at the loss of their son.
Joined by the parents of victim Joshua White, 17, the Moores
took their concerns to the judge, who agreed to present their
unusual proposal to the jury:
Any punitive damages
that the Moores and the Whites received would be placed in
a charitable trust to be used to identify unsafe rail crossings
in Stark County and to upgrade them with gates and flashing
lights.
On June 28, 1996,
the jury awarded the parents a total of $10 million, including
$7 million in punitive damges to the Moores and $1 million
to the Whites, who later opted to give their money to the
YMCA in Stark County. Both of the families also received
$1 million each in compensatory damages for the loss of their
children, which they will keep. The parents of the third
victim, Alyson Ley, 16, settled out of court with Conrail.
Last week, after
the Ohio Supreme Court approved the damage award and the
lawyers took out their fees, a check for $5.4 million was
placed in the bank account of the Angels on Track Foundation,
the charitable trust established by the Moores.
"We didn't
want the money. We wanted to correct the problem, and we're
going to spend the rest of our lives trying to do it," Vicky
Moore said.
One of their lawyers,
Eric Kennedy of Cleveland, said that, to his knowledge, the
acts of benevolence by the Moores and Whites were unprecedented.
"It's the first
time I'm aware of it ever happening in this country," Kennedy
said. "To have families who have suffered such tragic
losses actually give back millions of dollars is truly extraordinary.
It was the best way they could think of to make these deaths
have meaning, while taking away the argument that they were
gold diggers looking for a windfall."
The Moores met with
the head of the rail division of the Public Utilities Commission
of Ohio, and the couple established a task force to help
identify the most dangerous crossings and to recommend safety
upgrades.
After l l/2 years
spent appealing the jury's verdict, Conrail has joined in
support of the Moores.
"Any program
that works and contributes toward traffic safety we think
is good," said spokesman Bob Libkind from Conrail's
headquarters in Philadelphia.
The financial responsibility
for assuring the safety of rail crossings has long been a
point of contention between the rail companies and the public,
Kennedy said. The companies are responsible for maintaining
the crossings after they are installed, but it is the job
of the government to identify unsafe rail crossings and to
pay for equipment and installation costs with taxpayer money,
he said.
Thus, while Conrail
and other rail companies will be the ultimate beneficiaries
of the Moores multimillion-dollar largess, the money will
be presented to the PUCO for proper allocation, Vicky Moore
said.
The impact of the
Moores' gift on rail crossings in Stark County could be monumental,
Kennedy said.
The money alone
would be enough to repair three dozen unsafe rail crossings
at $150,000 per crossing. Accounting for interest on the
charitable trust, plus matching funds from the federal government,
the benefits to rail safety could spill over into improving
many of the 7,000 rail crossings in Ohio.
"This is a
fine thing,"
PUCO spokesman Dick Kimmins said. But he noted that more than
half of all fatalities in the state over the last five years
occured at crossings where drivers ignored warning signals.
"The most important
safety factor is in between the drivers' ears," Kimmins
said.
Vicky Moore can't
speak for others. All she knows is her son and his friends
died at an unsafe crossing where they didn't have a chance
to heed the warnings of a gate or a flashing light. Donating
the money in his name is the best way to assure Ryan Moore
did not die in vain, she said.
"We're
hoping that he knows what we're doing and that he's proud."
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