Widow Files Suit After Husband Struck By Train

A lawsuit has been filed against the MBTA after a train struck a journalism professor causing his death. According to the lawsuit, the decedent was riding his bike to catch his train when he was struck and killed by another train in the pedestrian crossing. According to the lawsuit, the victim never saw the train and the train operator did not blow his horn to alert the victim. Instead, the train quietly collided with the victim, ending his life.

The train conductor is named in the lawsuit alongside the company he works for. However, the damaging claim is that the layout of the train station itself lends itself to an avoidable tragedy. The plaintiffs contend that because pedestrians are allowed to cross in front of trains, it creates an unnecessary risk of danger to commuters. They are alleging simple negligence and gross negligence for exposing commuters to this sort of danger.

At last count, 5 pedestrians have been struck by trains at the same station over the past 10 years.

Federal regulations 

It will help your lawsuit significantly if you can establish that there is a federal regulation that was not adhered to which ultimately resulted in injury or death. Obviously, the best-case scenario would be to avoid injury altogether. But in terms of personal injury lawsuits, it’s better to have federal regulations on your side than not. In this case, federal regulations require that all trains sound their horns when they’re entering passenger stations. In this case, that did not happen.

Worse still, the city in which the train station operates banned the use of train horns. To get around federal requirements, they rezoned the area a “quiet zone”. While officials and safety advocates warned about how dangerous it was to not sound these horns, the city remains unmoved by their arguments. As part of the effort, however, the city required the train stations to implement other safety measures. They failed to follow up, however, and no safety measures were in place at the time of the victim’s death.

A lawsuit against the city claims that the city lied on applications for a “quiet zone” and omitted key details that would have prevented their application from being approved. In this case, the city was required to submit risk analyses for each of the 26 crossings but failed to provide risk analyses for at least 9 of those crossings. The quiet zone was approved prior to the city submitting risk analyses for these crossings.

Logistically, there are a lot of players who dropped the ball resulting in the avoidable death of a citizen. However, the city ultimately is responsible for this death even though the train station owners and operators will end up eating the bill. The city was required to follow up on safety measures after the area was “quiet zoned” and they never did.

Talk to a Tampa Personal Injury Attorney Today

 The Matassini Law Firm represents the interests of those who have been injured in avoidable accidents. Call our Tampa personal injury lawyers today to schedule a free consultation and we can begin discussing your allegations immediately.

Source:

berkeleybeacon.com/widow-of-late-journalism-professor-files-lawsuit-against-mbta/