Wrongful Death $3.875 million, Buxbaum v. Conrail: The family of a railroad conductor killed in a January 1993 North Bergen accident settled a wrongful death suit for $3.875 million.

The case was set for jury selection before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Seymour Margulies on June 10, 1996 when the principal defendants, Philadelphia- based Consolidated Rail Corp. and the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., in Montvale, agreed to the settlement with the widow and two children of Dean Buxbaum. Buxbaum, who was 40, was riding on a shortened Conrail train being pushed in reverse through a grade crossing when an A&P-leased tractor-trailer passed flashing warning lights and bells, striking the train and killing the conductor.

Gerald Baker, of Hoboken's Baker, Pedersen & Robbins, who represents Buxbaum's family, says the family alleged that the railroad failed to provide automatic gates at the crossing, and that the food distribution company's driver disregarded the warning lights.

The settlement included payments for future lost financial support, including the decedent's wages and benefits, as well as loss of household services. The settlement also included payment for Buxbaum's conscious pain and suffering; the plaintiffs had alleged that Buxbaum lived for nearly an hour after the impact. Conrail will pay about 15 percent of the settlement, and most of the remainder will be paid by A&P and its subsidiaries.

Conrail's attorney, Thomas Hart of Millburn's Ruprecht & Hart, declined comment on the case.

A&P lawyer Richard Flaum, a partner in Warren's Bivona, Cohen, Kunzman, Coley, Yospin, Bernstein & DiFrancesco, didn't return a call requesting comment.

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