Hebel v. Conrail, Inc.

ON CIVIL PETITION TO TRANSFER

PRENTICE, Justice.

The evidence favorable to the judgment of the trial court is as follows:

On February 22, 1977, at approximately 6:00 a.m., a boxcar in Defendant's (Conrail) freight train heading east toward Guilford, Indiana, derailed approximately one-half mile west of Guilford, punching a hole in the lower east end of a tank car behind it containing 35,000 gallons of acrylonitrile, a hazardous chemical used in the manufacture of plastics. The derailed boxcar and punctured tank car came to rest approximately 1800 feet west of a parking lot on the outskirts of…