Trial begins over driver hit by train in '03

Teresa Jones is seeking a total of $15 million in the case; $5 million to care for her husband, Keith Jones, and $10 million punitive against the Chicago-based railroad.

Several locals testified during the first hours of what is expected to be a two-week trial. Newbern farmers Bill Parks and his son, John Parks, and neighbor David French, each shared their opinion about how dangerous the Locust Grove Road crossing was.

A private investigator from Chattanooga testified to the measurement of trees near the railroad right-of-way at the crossing area.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has since installed an active warning system at the crossing, including crossarms.

The eight-person jury is composed of three white men, two white women, two black women and one black man. All are from Shebly County but one, who is from Lauderdale County.

Keith Jones was driving a Dyer County Farmer's Co-op fertilizer spreader north across the tracks to the Parks's farm when a southbound train hit the truck at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2003.

The collision broke the truck into pieces and ejected Jones through the passenger-side window and onto his head.

The majority of Monday's testimony was an almost two-hour video recording of the deposition of Dr. Michael DeShazo, a neurologist with the Semmes-Murphey Clinic in Memphis.

DeShazo was one of the first doctors to treat Jones.

Jones suffered from a hemorrhaging brain, severe skull fracture and lacerations to his head, a broken arm, several broken ribs, a broken pelvis, broken thumb and litany of other maladies. Notes from the air transport team that flew Jones to The Regional Medical Center in Memphis noted paramedics listed his Glascow Coma score - a scale used to measure consciousness - at a 3. A normal person is a 15, said DeShazo.

"That means you're barely alive or almost deceased," said DeShazo.

Jones spent six weeks in The Med, during which time part of the damaged frontal lobe of his brain was removed.

DeShazo testified since 2003 Jones has made "remarkable" improvement, but tempered the comment with the fact any improvement to his previous status could be considered welcome.

Jones left The Med and entered the HealthSouth Cane Creek rehabilitation hospital in Martin in February 2004; went to the Shepherd Center rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta in April 2004; to the Emory University Health Clinic in Atlanta; twice to the Timber Ridge NeuroRestorative Services campus in Arkansas; and was finally discharged to outpatient care in 2007.

Jones has experienced depression, an unusually explosive temper, bouts of cursing and a range of emotional troubles.

DeShazo said Jones today is "totally and permanently disabled."

DeShazo praised Teresa Jones for her work with her husband, explaining his opinion that she helped restore her husband's health to the level it is today.

DeShazo agreed with the plaintiff's counsel that Keith Jones has "maxed out" his recovery.

In a separate action on Monday, U.S. District Judge Bernice B. Donald denied Illinois Central's motion to bar evidence that TDOT had made the crossing safer with the installation of active warnings after the Jones accident.

Chattanooga attorneys Pamela R. O'Dwyer and John Chandler are Jones' legal counsel. Illinois Central is represented by Memphis attorney Stephanie Reifers and Belleville, Ill. counsel Charles J. Swartwout.

The case was initially filed in Dyer County Circuit Court in April 2004. The venue was moved to Memphis in February 2007.