A railroad maintenance crew was dispatched to work on a portion of track. A crane operator held 10-foot beams of track aloft — each weighing around 500 pounds — as he relayed them to his colleagues. On the ground, a young man operating a torch cut and welded segments of rail. Little did he know that 15 seconds of his day would change the rest of his life.
The young man’s torch went out. Not unusual. Per procedure, he called out to a team member to relight it. With the flame restored, the torcher prepared to restart his work. However, something went wrong with the crane operating above him. Without warning, one of the heavy rail beams detached from the crane, plunging to the ground. Tragically, it landed directly onto the arch of the torch welder’s left foot — above where his steel-toed boots protected him. The bones in his foot never stood a chance.
The young man limped himself to a nearby hospital. The damage was so severe that doctors needed to perform a fusion surgery, drilling rods and screws into his foot bones to keep them in place. However, even after the initial trauma healed, the pain and swelling didn’t subside. The young man was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), also called the “suicide disease”. Adding insult to injury, the young man was left unable to work. As his medical bills piled up, the railroad company did everything possible to avoid accountability.
For six and a half years, the railroad company strung the case along, filing one jurisdictional motion after another. The case hopped from Louisiana to Illinois and almost to Mississippi. Up against such a behemoth company, the young man knew he needed an attorney who could deal with railroad corporations. Marc Wietzke of Flynn & Wietzke, PC, built his career exclusively fighting against railroads. He brought the fight on behalf of the young man to his former railroad employer.
Marc built a strategy that was laser-focused on communicating straight facts:
He wanted to keep things simple, especially if the case went to trial. In addition, instead of experts-for-hire, Marc validated his evidence by enlisting the help of the Plaintiff’s own medical team — the orthopedic surgeon who operated on his foot, the pain management doctor who diagnosed his CRPS, and the physical therapist who helped him heal.
Still, the Defense refused to budge beyond their lowball offers. Marc attempted to mediate the case, but when the Defense refused to bend, he knew trial was on the horizon.
With a week and a half to go before the trial began, Marc took stock of where his case was. His arguments were concrete. He had the medical scans. The doctors were ready to testify. But he was concerned that the jury might not draw the same conclusions he had. He contacted DK Global to augment his evidence and expert testimonies with a presentation that clarified how all the pieces connected. With a tight timeline, Marc had DK Global create a PDF presentation deck.
Centered on simplicity and conciseness, Marc’s presentation deck was built around three hard-hitting slides. The first slide showed an x-ray of the Plaintiff’s foot after his fusion surgery. Screws, rods, and plates held his crushed foot together. The second page showed a histogram of the medical interventions the Plaintiff underwent in the years leading up to the trial. It revealed the multitude of surgeries, physical therapy appointments, injection visits, doctor visits, and chiropractor visits spanning seven years — over 300 in total. Finally, the third slide forecasted the Plaintiff’s future medical maintenance for the following eight years.
With trial just days away, Marc took one final stab at helping the Defense understand his argument. On a phone call with the railroad company’s claim agent, he shared an abridged version of his opening and closing statements. Marc shared what the presentation deck would explain to the jury — how the Plaintiff’s injuries and medical treatment were directly related to the worksite accident. Forty-eight hours later, as Marc and the Plaintiff were waiting for the jury to file in, the railroad company came forward with a confidential settlement offer that met his client’s needs. Marc successfully persuaded a billion-dollar railroad corporation to compensate his client fairly. And with that settlement, the young man was able to start a new business — one that would allow him to continue providing for his family despite the impact of his lifelong injuries.
Marc Wietzke of New York-based Flynn & Wietzke, PC, is one of only about 150 trial lawyers who specialize in lawsuits against railroads. A former President of the Academy of Rail Labor Attorneys, he has attained multiple million-dollar recoveries for injured railroad workers and whistleblowers. Marc is the Designated Legal Counsel for the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. Also, on Long Island, he’s the legal counsel to members of unions, such as the BLET, IBEW, and IRSA.
