Woman looking to cash in on son's death

[UKyank]

Don't worry, absent some crazy fact missing from the story this case has a 0% chance of getting in front of a jury.

[Clint.]

Originally Posted by railroader87

...Norfolk Southern alone owns 21000 miles of track in the united states to fence both sides would be 42000 miles of fencing....

Plus, think of the environmental and aesthetic damage from walling off large tracts of land like that. I doubt that section of track is busy enough to warrant serious consideration of a fence. It's probably less busy now than it was 40 years ago.

It's probably a big deal to throw the emergency brake on a train and is reserved for when there are very large or important stationary objects blocking the tracks that can't get out of the way (the guy may have been better off if he had collapsed and was laying motionless...given that he was seen soon enough for the train to be able to stop anyway), not people who probably dart around tracks pretty frequently, or others who can be reasonably expected to move out of the way of a 160 ton train traveling at 12 mph and blowing its mega loud train horn as a warning.

[Tinare]

There is the sad, cynical, really hard-hearted part of me that thinks that sometimes we do too much to prevent the deaths of the collossally stupid and maybe it would be best to let natural selection work and remove some genes from the pool. I am sorry for his family's loss, but there is a point that, as an adult, you should realize that jogging near train tracks while not being alert for a train is a really, really bad idea. That really does not require a lot of sense. Common or otherwise. We can't put a wall around everything or protect everyone from hazard. Accidents happen, people die. Life is fraught with danger.

I hope, for the train engineer's sake, that he (or she) did do and can be proven to have done his (or her) very best in this situation. I would think that he (or she) has likely second guessed every action and has probably been going through a hard time. I can't imagine that anyone could be involved in a fatal accident like this and not.

[ebyrnes]

You're probably right re: my hyperbole; I never really do know where to draw the line between sleazy and anti-social; in this case, it seems as if the dead guy (RIP) was extremely irresponsible with his actions and likely traumatized the train engineer; and now someone else is trying to profit from that. With what the newspaper reporter has told us, there isn't much validity to the argument, and while an expensive court case will hopefully bring the facts to light, *the adult was trespassing on the train tracks while where wearing an Ipod*. No doubt it is hard on his Mum to accept her child's death, but looking to profit from it is pretty sick, and I guess that is where I when a bit nuts and suggested that it is anti-social - because surely our limited court resources should be put to better use.

My years in Philly - a truly great city, I miss it terribly - allowed me to become a bit cynical about lawyers; folks doing dumb things all the time, and then blaming someone else; and what appears to an outsider - I am a nurse, not an attorney - to be a court system that is a heck of a mess with delays and unethical lawyers.

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

Rape and murder are anti-social behaviors. Knowingly filing a frivolous lawsuit is sleazy, perhaps, but calling it anti-social is beyond hyperbolic. I don't know the exact law in Pennsylvania, but trespassing does not necessarily prevent standing in wrongful death cases. I'm guessing (or at least hoping) the woman's counsel is competent enough to not take on a case that will go straight to summary judgment.

And what do you mean by "that kind of attorney." If you're referring to someone who takes on a case, knowing that the claim is total BS, then no, I can't imagine I would ever do such a thing. But questions of fact can often be quite muddled, and sometimes, the fairest thing to do is subject such issues to jury scrutiny.

[gg]

Originally Posted by ebyrnes

I do blame people for trying to game the system; it is anti-social behaviour, and should be strongly discouraged and *never* rewarded. If she has a legitimate claim - hard to imagine, since her son was trespassing - then I am all for letting the courts decide. But for someone to waste court time and resources with something frivilous, that's a damn shame. Heavenwood, I sincerely hope that you won't be that kind of attorney; I know that we all have to make a living, but you sound smart enough to take the high road when possible.

e

I agree with this, but it seems to be a practice that is relatively common. I don't feel it is right or ethical to blame a railroad company for this death. Sorry the fellow died and sorry to his family, but trains can't stop and you aren't supposed to be there. They are nice enough to allow people to cross the tracks to go fishing and get close to the river. It is acts like this lawsuit that might make that even harder. Also, these big train outfits allow rails to trails and allow bike paths in close proximity. A dumb lawsuit like this can push things back decades. I hardly would be proud to bring this suit up for my own financial gain when the collateral damage can be so great.

[TechCom]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I never think there is some legitimate case if you get hit by a train. How do people get hit? Seriously? I never understood that.

I've read about this before. Apparently people don't seem to realize that a train is wider than the train tracks.

[ditchdigger]

Originally Posted by railroader87
...Norfolk Southern alone owns 21000 miles of track in the united states to fence both sides would be 42000 miles of fencing....

Yeah, but a lot of those miles have two or more tracks in the right of way. I'll bet it wouldn't even take 20,000 miles of fence.

[sparrowmint]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I live in Lawrenceville at the top of the hill and can still hear the horns from the trains by the allegheny river at night with the windows closed. Its sad for someone young to go like this but how cant you hear that or know not to walk on tracks.

I live pretty far south in Penn Hills, just about on the Churchill border (three way border with Wilkins Twp, really), and we can hear them easily at night when outdoors. As the crow flies, I imagine it's only 4-5 miles or so, but yeah, train horns are pretty damn loud.

[zip95]

This guy's an idiot!!!

Instead he should have been riding his bike on a major road (like Penn Ave)... Then it would be a tragedy and the other guys fault.