This Can Be A Huge Scandal, If True

From the RGJ: Lawyers for the trucking company involved in the deadly Amtrak train crash near Reno last year claim Union Pacific Railroad intentionally tampered with or destroyed evidence that could have shown the crossing gate malfunctioned and did not warn the driver of the oncoming train.Steve Jaffe, lawyer for John Davis Trucking, filed a motion Tuesday asking a federal judge to dismiss lawsuits filed by Amtrak and Union Pacific because instead of “preserving evidence,” they allegedly removed the crossing gate that was in the crash, making it difficult for the trucking company to defend itself against claims the driver was at fault.
 Union Pacific had claimed that it left the crash gate in place so that it could be inspected by lawyers involved in several lawsuits. But Jaffe said photographic evidence shows that in the weeks following the crash, Union Pacific first cut the tip off the gate and threw away and then replaced the entire arm, leaving the trucking company without key evidence, Jaffe said in the motion.
 http://www.rgj.com/article/20120703/NEWS/307030051/Lawyer-Union-Pacific-Railroad-destroyed-evidence-hide-faulty-warning-system?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
All this time, it was assumed that the driver was completely at fault because all of the information has come from Amtrak and Union Pacific, along with the NTSB and NHP. 
But if the facts are true that the gate was acting improperly, this may cause some, not all, of the blame to UP and Amtrak.
And if the evidence was destroyed as the defense lawyer has claimed, then we are talking about a huge scandal between UP and the Feds.