Mother of Man Killed at CenterPoint Suing Facility and Railroad Company

JOLIET, IL — The mother of a man killed while working at CenterPoint has sued the intermodal facility and the Union Pacific Railroad.

Geraldine Hughes, the mother of Jeremy Hughes, filed her lawsuit in Will County court.

Jeremy Hughes was 22 when he was killed in February 2015.

Jeremy Hughes drove a hostler truck for Intermodal Services of America, moving trailers around CenterPoint. Intermodal Services of America, “does contract switching for Union Pacific” Railroad in Joliet and Chicago, according to the United Transportation Union.

On the day he was killed, Jeremy Hughes was trying to move a trailer that had become stuck due to snow and ice, the lawsuit said.

“He exited his vehicle and attempted to attach a strap between his hostler and the hostler of a co-worker,” the suit said. “At or around this time, (the) co-worker, Christopher Lane, attempted to push the trailer attached to (Jeremy Hughes’) hostler by backing the trailer attached to Lane’s vehicle into it, which caused (Hughes’) trailer to ‘jackknife,’ pinning (him) between his own hostler and an adjacent parked intermodal trailer.”

Hughes was crushed to death, an official said at the time.