GILLESPIE, Ill. (CN) - An Illinois state judge awarded a school district $10 million in a lawsuit against Union Pacific Railroad over a collapsed mine.
The Gillespie School District sued in 2010, after a collapsed mine left the district's Benld Elementary School damaged beyond repair.
The school district sued Union Pacific because its predecessors were subsidiaries of the mine near where the school was built in 2002.
The mine collapsed in 2009, causing severe structural damage to the school. The state condemned the school and it was demolished.
The school district asked for $22 million when the lawsuit was filed, but Macoupin County Judge Patrick Londrigan awarded it $10 million on Wednesday.
Gillespie School Superintendent Joe Tieman told The Associated Press that any money received from the lawsuit would be used to pay back a $7 million debt incurred to build a new school.
Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis told the AP that the railroad plans to appeal.
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