Articles Posted in Train Accidents

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The most recent in a round of settlements reached following a 2005 Metra train derailment have resulted in $1.45 million to Catherine Kozi-O’Donnell, a woman who sustained injuries in the Illinois train accident. The Joliet resident’s leg was badly broken during the train accident and required knee replacement surgery.

Earlier this summer Metra reached a $2 million settlement with a man who suffered hip, shoulder, and leg injuries following the Illinois train derailment. In addition, the surviving families of two passengers who were killed as a result of the 2005 train accident, Jane Cuthbert and Allison Walsh, settled their claims with Metra for $11 million.

The 2005 Illinois train accident resulted in the death of the two women and 117 injured passengers. In Illinois, whenever there are large numbers of plaintiffs filing personal injury lawsuits against one similar entity, typically their claims are broken up into manageable groups. While these groups might initially all be treated as one entity in order to aid the discovery process, eventually they are placed on different litigation schedules. This schedule allows the defendant to stagger their response to the different individual lawsuits. Not only does this help the defendant, but it also helps the plaintiff by insuring that each’s case receives equal attention.

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The Illinois Supreme Court evaluated a Chicago personal injury case involving a slip in fall accident on a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) platform. The issue in the case was whether the CTA, as a common carrier, owed a duty to protect its passengers from a natural accumulation of ice on its outdoor platforms. Krywin v. Chicago Transit Authority, No. 108888.

Under Illinois law the CTA is recognized as a common carrier, which is any person or company that is engaged in the business of transporting goods or people. Illinois case law has long established that a common carrier “must use the highest degree of care which is practicable in order to provide passengers with a safe passage from its trains”. In Krywin, the plaintiff’s personal injury complaint maintained that the CTA’s negligence led to her slipping on an icy platform and fracturing her left leg.

The Chicago train company responded by stating that it owed no duty to the plaintiff under the natural accumulation rule. This rule states that a property owner does not have a duty to remove snow, ice, or water that has naturally accumulated on the owned property. The natural accumulation rule typically applies to landowners and has generally not been extended to include common carriers.

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A Chicago train accident case was recently settled on behalf of one of the passengers injured in the 2005 train derailment. The Metra train was operated by Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, who has agreed to pay the plaintiff $2 million for the injuries he sustained as a result of the Illinois train accident. Hurley v. Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, No. 05 L 10416.

The injured Illinois resident suffered shoulder, hip, and leg injuries as a result of the Illinois train derailment. The plaintiff required multiple surgeries for his fractured him and underwent a lengthy physical therapy program. There were several additional passengers who were injured on that date and two women died; however, the $2 million settlement is for Kevin Hurley’s injuries only. The families of the two women who died as a result of the derailment have previously settled their Illinois wrongful death claims for $11 million. Presumably the other parties have also filed their own claims against Metra.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board‘s railroad accident brief, the September 17, 2005 Metra derailment was the result of the engineer’s failure to obey signals warning him to reduce his speed and failure to obey the speed restrictions at the train crossover. At the time of the accident the Rock Island Metra train was going 69 mph through a track crossover area; the maximum allowable speed is 10 mph. As a result of the high speeds and the severe angle of the track caused the wheels to jump the track and derail.

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Late yesterday afternoon a fire developed on Chicago’s Red Line train, halting traffic and forcing 19 passengers to the hospital. Five people were reported to have suffered serious injuries, including a 10 year-old boy who was observed overnight at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital.

Firefighters were investigating the cause of the railroad fire and have identified the source as railroad ties catching fire on the train track between the Red Line’s Chicago Avenue and Clark/Division stops. While it is currently unclear what caused the fire, Chicago Fire Department representatives have indicated that Chicago’s summer heat occasionally causes the railroad ties to catch fire, but is more common on elevated trains than subway trains. Yesterday the high in Chicago was 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

Passengers aboard the Red Line subway train when the fire broke out reported black, billowing smoke that became so thick they could not see across the aisle. According to a Chicago Tribune article, by the time the train arrived at its next stop and passengers were finally able to exit, they did so in a huge rush, literally “fleeing for the exits”.

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A recent Cook County personal injury lawsuit examined the degree of care a railroad owes to its passengers. The Illinois personal injury case was brought by a commuter who alleged a dangerous condition at an Illinois Metra train station caused his injuries. Pence v. Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter RR Corp., No. 1-08-3668 (Feb 3, 2010).

At the time of his injury, the Illinois plaintiff was making his way from a nearby parking lot towards the Metra train station. The plaintiff tripped over a railroad tie, fracturing his wrist and left shoulder. The plaintiff’s lawsuit alleged that the railroad had breached the high degree of care that it owed to its passengers.

However, the plaintiff’s personal injury claims were problematic because by definition he was not a passenger when he was injured. At the time of his injury, the plaintiff was walking diagonally across an intersection in an area that was not officially designated as a parking lot. This seemingly small detail opened the way for Metra to move for summary judgment under an argument that the railroad was insulated from liability under the Local and Government Employees Tort Immunity Act.

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A recent Illinois jury verdict against a railroad company illustrates the difference between Federal Employee Liability Act (FELA) claims and Illinois workers’ compensation claims. The plaintiff was a railroad conductor who suffered severe injuries after being run over by a railroad car while working. As a result of the Illinois train accident the plaintiff required amputations of both his legs.

If the plaintiff had been working for a construction company instead of a railroad company, than his injury would have been handled by the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission (IWCC) and he would have received immediate payments for his injury, medical care, and lost time from work. However, railroad employee injuries are covered under FELA, which puts the burden on the employee to prove that the injury was the result of the railroad’s negligence and not the employees.

Similarly, employers whose employees are ruled by Illinois workers’ compensation law are exempt from any lawsuits being filed against them by their employees as the result of an injury sustained at work. This protection is granted to those companies because of the assumption that if their employee is injured at work then the company will already be paying them under Illinois workers’ compensation rules.

However, under FELA, the railroads do not have to pay the employee anything if the company deems that the injury was a result of the employee’s negligence. So while the employee does not automatically receive any compensation from the railroad, the employee is also not barred from filing a lawsuit directly against their railroad employer. So while this Illinois train accident lawsuit was brought by a railroad employee against his railroad employer, Iowa Interstate Railroad, if the plaintiff had not been employed by a railroad he would not have been able to sue his employer.

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On July 11, 2006, a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) subway train caught fire and derailed during the evening rush hour. After the Chicago Blue Line train derailed, passengers were forced to exit the subway train cars and make their way to the surface. Many CTA riders were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment of smoke inhalation and other injuries.

A verdict for one of the passengers was recently returned on the first of the cases stemming from this Chicago train accident to go to trial. The Chicago man claimed that he suffered from psychological injuries, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as a result of the Chicago train derailment near Clark and Lake Streets.

At trial, the plaintiff testified that he thought he was going to die given the amount of flames, heat, and smoke. Currently the plaintiff still rides the blue line train to his job as a docket clerk for a Chicago law firm. The jury wasconvinced of the seriousness of the plaintiff’s psychological injuries and returned a verdict of $135,000 against the CTA.

According to court documents, it appears that the focus of the Cook County train accident trial was on damages only as a summary judgment was already entered against the CTA regarding negligence claims related to the 2006 incident.

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An Illinois wrongful death case was recently tried and found in favor of the decedent’s widow, who was awarded $5 million by the Cook County jury. The verdict was against Metra and found the Chicago-based railroad liable for the Illinois train accident that caused the decedent’s death.

On the day of the Illinois train accident, the decedent was standing on a train platform at a Berwyn, Illinois train station and waiting for a train to take him to work. He was waiting in the same place he waited every morning, on the northeast corner of the platform. However, on that day the commuter train that normally arrived on the south platform had been re-routed to the station’s north platform due to the approach of an unscheduled freight train, which required the waiting commuters to move to a different track.

A ticketing agent informed those commuters waiting on the south platform of the change in tracks and suggested they cross the train tracks while the gates were down. An announcement was also made over the public address system, however, the north platform that the decedent was standing on was not equipped with speakers. Therefore, what the blind decedent heard was an unclear, muffled message to which he responded to by crossing the tracks.

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While speeding in any vehicle is never a good idea, for trains it can have disastrous consequences. Train speed limits are posted for a reason and can vary based on weather, track condition, or the length of the train. When these speed limits are ignored it can result in deadly train accidents.

The Northeast Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, a.k.a. Metra, recently reached a settlement with a Chicago resident who was injured in a 2003 train crash. The Metra conductor had been faulted for driving at increased speeds and was apparently distracted when he was going 68 mph in a 10 mph crossover. Following this Illinois train accident the speed limit in the area has been reduced by up to 40 mph.

The injured man was a passenger when the Metra commuter train derailed near 47th Street in Chicago and sustained a fractured arm, broken ribs, and spinal damage. During the case’s discovery period Metra had admitted liability for the train accident. The case was settled for $2 million.

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A recent Cook County jury verdict is a reminder of the dangers of railroad crossings and of Illinois train accidents. $5 million was awarded to the surviving family members of a 60 year-old man who was killed when his car was struck by a Metra train at a Chicago railroad crossing.

As a Chicago commuter at least once a year I hear about a train accident at a Chicago crossing, oftentimes due to an impatient vehicle trying to beat the fast moving train. However, in this man’s case a traffic signal was responsible for his death.

The 60 year-old male was driving southbound towards the crossing located near the intersection of Marshfield Street and 111th on Chicago’s southside as the train was approaching. The City’s traffic control system signaled east and westbound traffic to receive red lights at the crossing, but southbound traffic was given a green light. There was no indication to the driver that he should not turn right at the railroad tracks. The driver made his turn onto the tracks just as the train was approaching at 60 mph.

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