Several New Jersey Residents Sue over Deadly Amtrak Derailment
In a crash that killed eight passengers and injured 200 others, individuals have now begun to file lawsuits against a federally-funded agency for their injuries and the wrongful deaths of their family members. While the first lawsuit was filed by an employee of Amtrak who was riding the train home as a passenger, a group of four individuals experiencing serious injury on the train filed the first passenger lawsuit. The group, including New Jersey resident Amy Miller, suffered injuries including a nearly-severed arm, broken ribs, concussions, bruised lungs, and torn ligaments. Additionally, one conductor working on the train at the time, Emilio Fonseca of Kearny, New Jersey, has filed a claim against Amtrak for his injuries in the crash, as has the lead engineer of the train, Brian Bostian.
This is the first Amtrak accident where a damages cap imposed by Congress may become a limiting factor. In 1997, in order to help Amtrak become an independent entity no longer requiring as great an amount of federal subsidy, Congress imposed (per Amtrak’s request) a limit of $200 million on the total damages that can be paid out based on a single passenger rail incident. While the amount seemed adequate to fully compensate victims when created in 1997, it does not account for inflation, and experts in such litigation already fear that the amount will fall short from fully compensating all those injured or who lost a loved one for all associated medical expenses and lost income. This would be the first accident of a large-enough scale to reach the $200 million cap. An instructive example was the 2008 crash of a Metrolink train in Los Angeles. In that incident, 25 individuals were killed and over 100 were injured, and Metrolink paid $200 million in damages. A judge divided this amount among the train crash victims, but some reported that their share of the damages was inadequate to fully cover all related medical expenses resulting from the crash. One US Senator recently introduced a bill which would raise the cap to $500 million.
The May 12 derailment of the train traveling between New York and Washington, DC is still being investigated by authorities to determine exactly how the accident occurred. What is clear is that the train was traveling at over twice the 55 mph speed limit when it derailed, and that the windshield of the train seems to have been hit by a circular object shortly before the derailment occurred. Investigators are examining whether the engineer was using his phone before the crash, though records are inconclusive. Bostian, the train’s engineer, suffered a concussion in the crash, and claims not to be able to recall anything occurring after the train pulled out of the last station in which it stopped prior to the accident. The claims alleged in each plaintiff’s lawsuit may change based on the reasons for the crash. Currently, the attorneys representing the group of passengers claim that Amtrak was negligent in failing to use the most current safety systems to control the train’s speed, and that Bostian’s speed at the time of the crash was inexcusable.
Injury or wrongful death as a result of a catastrophic event can be devastating to you or your family. Secure skilled legal assistance to recover damages to which you are entitled for others’ negligent acts. Contact the experienced New Jersey personal injury attorneys at Massood Law Group for a free consultation on your possible personal injury claim by calling 1-844-4MB-HURT.
