By Attorney William Abel
Special to THELAW.TV
So you finish a tough day of work and it's time to go home. You get in line with your fellow commuters and board the train. As it pulls out of the station, you settle into your seat without a second thought. As you begin to relax, your normal commute takes a turn for the worse and you find yourself being violently tossed about the railway car as the train tumbles off the tracks.
This scenario recently played out on a New York City commuter train, resulting in the deaths of four passengers and injuries to 60 others.
Unfortunately, injuries and deaths from train accidents are more common than you think. In 2010, 27,870 people were injured as a result of accidents involving buses, light rail, heavy rail, and commuter trains. If you were injured on a passenger train, what rights would you have?
Most people do not think about their safety when they board public transportation. "Leave the driving to us" is their motto and that is exactly what we do. We bury our noses in books and newspapers and entrust the driver and company to get us home safely. Why do we feel so secure on public transportation when there aren't even seat-belts on those buses or trains? We feel safe because of the very reason why there are no seat-belts — because common carriers are supposed to be safe.
There are plenty of rules and regulations for drivers, all the way down to maintenance of the bus or train. All of the regulations exists because more is expected of common carriers to ensure our safety. In fact, common carriers, such as bus companies, taxi cab companies, train companies, and water taxis owe their passengers the highest degree of care for our safety. Where private citizens are required to act as a "reasonably prudent person would under similar circumstances," a common carrier is required to provide the highest degree of care that would be done by a very careful person under the conditions that affect the carrier and passenger.
While it is important to know what is required of the public transportation company, it is more important to understand who is responsible for the accident and how to gather the facts to support your case. Because of the severity of injuries that result when buses and trains are involved in accidents, such accidents are thoroughly investigated in order to determine the root cause. Depending upon how the accident happened, it will lead to the discovery of who is responsible for the accident.
For example, in the case of the New York City commuter train, the cause appears to be excessive speed. The train was reportedly traveling 82 miles per hour into a curve with a speed limit of 30 MPH. These facts suggest that either the driver was not paying attention or the train's braking system malfunctioned and prevented the driver from slowing the train.
If the cause is driver error from fatigue or negligence, then the company who employs the driver will be the target of the litigation. If the braking system malfunctioned, the companies that own and maintain the train will be the target of litigation. Depending on what the investigation reveals, potential defendants could include the transit authority who owns and operates the train tracks — if the tracks were not adequately maintained, the train manufacturer — if a design defect exists in the train that caused or contributed to the accident, or a unrelated company or individual if they obstructed the track and caused an accident.
For the families whose loved ones where killed or injured on the New York City commuter train, they have suffered significant loses, and while it is helpful to their case that the train company has the highest degree of care, that does not ensure they will be compensated for their losses.
What is vitally important in determining whether the injured parties will be fully compensated is whether a private company or a governmental entity is the responsible party. Where private companies typically have insurance policies with significant policy limits, governmental entity liability is generally limited under sovereign immunity laws. Sovereign immunity limits that amount of money a governmental entity must pay out to accident victims. For the families whose breadwinners were killed, it is the difference between being compensated million dollars versus a couple of hundred thousand dollars.
Unfortunately, this most recent train accident will not be the last. The victims of the New York commuter train accident are just a few of the tens of thousands of people who will be injured this year while using common carriers. While there is little you can do to protect yourself from such accidents, you can protect your rights should you be involved in such an accident. Knowing that common carriers have the highest duty of care, that there are a multitude of potential defendants, and that it is vitally important to know who owns the companies responsible for the accident are the ways that you can take the first steps to asserting your rights, rebuilding your life, and obtaining the compensation you deserve.
The author, William Abel, is a West Palm Beach, Florida personal injury attorney with McLaughlin & Stern.
Source: http://thelaw.tv/news/2013/12/04/your-legal-rights-as-a-train-crash-victim/