Amtrak engineer, railway co. sued by man who lost wife, unborn child

[frj1983]

Gotta throw my hat in the ring.... ACL: Plaintiff won't walk off with 7 figures - they're only asking for $200,000. Amtrak wastes that when they're unconscious; they will hardly miss it as part of a settlement. Sending a lawyer to court can cost more than that. The fact that they are suing the engineer is horrible, but common practice. In fact, I'm sort of suprised that GE and their subcontractors aren't being sued as well. That's essentially what killed general aviation in the 1980s.
Looking at Google, the basic railroad markings on the street are missing both crossings on 7th St. The Western single track has lights, but no gate. The triple track to the East has no lights. Now, on Mapquest, the Western track is labeled "Norfolk Southern", the Eastern set of tracks is labeled "Great Western". So whoever owns what, who knows unless they are there. No matter what, for a town that seems to have a pretty suburban-esque population density, the grade crossings are woefully inadequate. On the other hand, the Google Maps seem to indicate that visibility is pretty good both ways, but the video didn't seen to show that.

Finally, it looked like the power on the Amtrak train (at least on the video) was an F40. I didn't think they ran those any more, and even got rid of the cabbabge, but regardless, I highly doubt the dash cams were installed on this train. When did they start putting those in?

No the cabbages are alive and well,

I saw two of them on trains in the Amtrak yard at CUS last night heading home on Metra!

 

[had8ley]

Engineers act in the capacity of "agent" for the freight & pax carriers. In that light the RR's are obligated to defend their agent. I have been to Federal court many times on account of crossing accidents and not once did the RR fail to defend me.

 

[George Harris]

Amtrak's engineers are unionized employees of Amtrak. That means they are AGENTS of Amtrak, and as such a lawsuit of an Amtrak Agent while that Agent was operating in his official capacity as an Agent of Amtrak, the suit is automatically Amtrak's issue.

An employee's status as an agent has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not they belong to a union.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

GML you make an interesting point, but I hope that you respect the woman and her unborn child. The woman was someone's wife and daughter and she did not deserve to die. None of us know what happened in the car. It was a terrible accident for everyone involved.

I don't know enough of what happened to tell you whether I respect her or not. If she was on those tracks for any reason that involves a failure of her personal judgement, I have no respect for her. Not only that, disrespect her.

People don't deserve respect for the simple status of existing- or having existed. Respect is not a right. Respect is a privilege you earn, regardless of the lip service people pay to the contrary. Disrespect is likewise earned. What do you have when neither is present? Nothing. Which is what I feel for the vast majority of people I either do not know or have not met.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Amtrak's engineers are unionized employees of Amtrak. That means they are AGENTS of Amtrak, and as such a lawsuit of an Amtrak Agent while that Agent was operating in his official capacity as an Agent of Amtrak, the suit is automatically Amtrak's issue.

An employee's status as an agent has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not they belong to a union.

Geh. Excuse my frivolous and unneeded word there.

 

[tp49]

Engineers act in the capacity of "agent" for the freight & pax carriers. In that light the RR's are obligated to defend their agent. I have been to Federal court many times on account of crossing accidents and not once did the RR fail to defend me.

Only because your actions were in accordance with company policy. Had they not been the railroad would have left you high and dry to find your own attorney to handle the case due to a conflict of interest.

 

[tp49]

You guys are all wrong, and your knowledge of law is so far off, its crazy.

:lol: Thanks, you sure know how to make a guy feel special. B)

I'd suggest that there are some variables which make what you say not exactly true.

If the Agent is found to be operating in a negligent fashion, that isn't a problem for moron who caused this thing. Its a problem between Amtrak and its engineer- its agent. Amtrak bears all costs involved with this, including the lawyer. If Amtrak finds the Engineer to be at fault, they can then sue the engineer to recoup their losses.

If the engineer were deemed to be acting outside the scope of the agency relationship namely egregious violations of company policy or operating rules (something beyond mere garden variery negligence) then the interests of the railroad and the enginner are in conflict and the company will not continue to cover his representation.

Then as a matter of strategy the railroad would look to get themselves dismissed out. Why bother to pay litigation expenses if ostensibly they can get out of it entirely.

Also, it is not up to Amtrak as to determining if the engineer is at fault. That would have been done prior to the case going to trial during the investigation of the initial incident and would have relate to what I mentioned above. The trier of fact (judge in a bench trial jury in a jury trial) would be the one determining the fault level of the engineer, and also that of the deceased. Just because they're dead doesn't mean that contributory negligence or comparative fault doesn't apply (depending on which the jurisdiction uses.)

Assuming that the engineer did what he is supposed to do, and Amtrak is aware of that, the engineers problems are all emotional, primarily, I assume, rage at this ****'s wife for having the gall to kill herself and her unborn child, inflicting emotional strain on the engineer, and then her husband having the utter gall to attempt to blame it on the engineer.

As a matter of strategy it makes perfect sense to at least file suit and name the engineer personally. Yes, I am inferring this from your statement "attempt to blame it on the engineer." As previously stated, let's say that during the discovery phase it comes out that the engineer's actions exceeded the scope of the agency relationship, and by proxy also negates the use of vicarious liability against Amtrak. If the engineer isn't personally named in the complaint then the case would need to be refiled against the engineer (and there may be issues of res judicata or collateral estoppel to worry about as well depending on if the suit was dismisses with or without "prejudice.") However, if the case is filed against Amtrak and the engineer the case continues on and Amtrak would be dismissed from the case saving money and time. Civil suits aren't cheap to litigate nor do they operate quickly.

Though so long as the agency relationship remains intact then including the engineer allows for the plaintiffs to have someone to recover from should say Amtrak get dissolved or go bankrupt tomorrow. Though these scenarios are unlikely that's why it's done. The lawyers would much rather hone in on the deep pockets of Amtrak then the shallow pockets of the engineer.

After all this and as an aside I was reading a case and found this "well settled" rule applicable in cases such as this:

In proceeding in this manner, the engineer was acting in accordance with a widely accepted doctrine of railroad law, viz., that, absent knowledge of some disability on the part of a mature pedestrian seen on or near the tracks, a locomotive engineer who gives a proper alarm is entitled to assume that the pedestrian will heed the warning and move to a place of safety.

 

[AlanB]

Civil suits aren't cheap to litigate nor do they operate quickly.

Ain't that the truth. I've wasted more time as a perspective juror in civil court than I ever have in criminal court, 4 days in one case before they tossed me out the door and back into the general pool. And for 4 days I heard the same questions over and over and over as they went through close to 100 perspective jurors. Not saying the criminal is great, there is still so much that could be done to improve things for the juror, but civil is the worst. NY did a few years ago revamp things to make civil better, but it still needs more improvement.

 

[had8ley]

Engineers act in the capacity of "agent" for the freight & pax carriers. In that light the RR's are obligated to defend their agent. I have been to Federal court many times on account of crossing accidents and not once did the RR fail to defend me.

Only because your actions were in accordance with company policy. Had they not been the railroad would have left you high and dry to find your own attorney to handle the case due to a conflict of interest.

You just hit a grand slam...

 

[DET63]

By the way, I'm 99% sure that the Union takes care of all representation for Engineers in these sorts of things. The BLET should have access to a pretty good legal team thanks to its association with the The Teamsters. The Union dues don't just go into oblivion...

No, but I thought they went into the coffers of certain political candidates and causes.

 

[sky12065]

By the way, I'm 99% sure that the Union takes care of all representation for Engineers in these sorts of things. The BLET should have access to a pretty good legal team thanks to its association with the The Teamsters. The Union dues don't just go into oblivion...

No, but I thought they went into the coffers of certain political candidates and causes.

Yet another grand slam!!! And IMHO it seems that what does go into the coffers is more for the benefit of politicians than it is for it's membership... at least in my union anyway!

 

[had8ley]

By the way, I'm 99% sure that the Union takes care of all representation for Engineers in these sorts of things. The BLET should have access to a pretty good legal team thanks to its association with the The Teamsters. The Union dues don't just go into oblivion...

No, but I thought they went into the coffers of certain political candidates and causes.

I hate to say it Battalion 51 but I was never even asked by our local chairman, who later became our general chairman, if I needed or wanted union representation. I know of no other fellow engineer on T&P, MOP or UP property that was ever represented by a union lawyer. In all the union meetings I went to there never was mention of the possibility of union legal representation. So much for Brotherhood.... Now If an engineer gets hurt the union designated FELA (Federal Employers Liability Act of 1906; it covers rail workers injuries) attorneys circle like vultures but that's another horse of a different color.

 

[JAChooChoo]

Gotta throw my hat in the ring....Now, on Mapquest, the Western track is labeled "Norfolk Southern", the Eastern set of tracks is labeled "Great Western". So whoever owns what, who knows unless they are there.!

It is actually Gateway Western which is owned by KCS.