A Cascade County District Court jury this month awarded a Columbia Falls man more than $2.3 million in a personal injury lawsuit against railroad conglomerate BNSF.

Michael Grimes, a longtime locomotive engineer at BNSF's Whitefish facility, was navigating a cramped train cab on Dec. 14, 2022, when he fell and hit his head. Conductor Timothy Baier discovered his coworker sprawled across the floor a few moments later. 

“My first concern, I thought he was dead,” Baier said in a deposition. “I thought he was laying on the floor dead. Maybe a heart attack or something was what I initially thought.” 

Baier didn’t notice the cylindrical fuse resting near Grimes’ feet until another coworker pointed it out.  

“He said, look at this, Tim, and I looked at the floor. He pointed it out,” said Baier. “And that was the first time I had seen it or noticed it.” 

Baier took Grimes’ phone and snapped a picture of the stray fuse. Then he called Grimes’ wife to let her know her husband was on his way to the emergency room. 

Three years later, Grimes said he still experiences difficulties with executive functioning from the mild traumatic brain injury he sustained that day. He is hesitant to drive a car unless he has a passenger to help point out stop signs and red lights and has not returned to his former engineering duties. 

Grimes filed suit against BNSF for the accident in January 2024, claiming the railroad violated federal safety requirements by allowing a slipping hazard in a common walkway. 

In its initial response, BNSF denied that there had been a fuse on the ground when Grimes fell. An internal inspection report filed after the accident stated the locomotive cab was clean and that the floor was free of debris, but the photo Baier had taken on Grimes’ phone suggested otherwise. 

“I still wonder what would have happened if those guys hadn’t taken those pictures,” said Bill Jungbauer, the attorney that represented Grimes in the case. 

The jury never saw the photo or the internal inspection report. BNSF admitted liability for the accident before the case went to trial and subsequently filed a motion to remove both documents as evidence. 

On Feb. 4, the jury awarded Grimes $950,000 for past and future lost earning capacity and $1.4 million for past and future pain, suffering and emotional distress. 

Grimes delivered his resignation letter to BNSF the same day. 

“As a result of my Dec. 14, 2022, traumatic brain injury, I am medically unable to ever return to work as a locomotive engineer for the railroad ... No doctor to the best of my knowledge has released me for engineer duty. It is clear BNSF has no job for me,” he wrote. “I am No. 1 on the Whitefish seniority roster, something I am extremely proud of and worked hard for. It is time for someone else to take that spot.” 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at 758-4433 or [email protected].