CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Damages Claim by Trainmen Dismissed

A federal judge here has dismissed a claim for damages filed by three train crewmen whose munitions train locomotive ran over an anti-war protester. The three railroad workers alleged that they suffered psychological damage and loss of wages after their train struck Brian Willson on Sept. 1, 1987, during an anti-war protest outside the Concord Naval Weapons Station. Willson’s legs were severed below the knee and he has filed a suit of his own against the crew. It is scheduled for trial in April. In a pretrial decision, U.S. District Judge Robert Peckham said Willson did not intend to cause the crew any distress because he assumed that the train would be stopped before it hit him. “The emotional distress of the train crew was not the inevitable result of the protesters’ blockade,” the judge wrote.