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Family of driver in fatal Metro-North grade crossing accident to sue railroad
Yeah, this sounds legit … not.
In any case, pretending for a second it was a fault of a poorly designed crossing, isn’t that a local government/DoT concern, not a railroad concern? Railroads don’t generally own the crossings or have any control over them.
Sounds more like a last ditch effort. When the evidence is so much against the driver of the car, I think the only thing the family can do is to try and smear the railroad in hopes trying to gain sympathy from the public. Also, i think from by not suing the railroad, the family would inadvertently admit that she was in the wrong which cause them to lose any lawsuit the railroad may file against her and her estate. Just for the record, I agree that it is silly for them to sue but i get it if it’s for a legal defense maneuver.
Somebody who wasn’t a moron might have thought a train could be coming if they are parked on the tracks and the crossing gates come down and gotten the f out of there instead of driving further into the crossing.
The Brody family may have a big problem if the driver of the vehicle is found to be at fault for the collision. If the family happens to own a business or have other wealth then the injury victims and families of the deceased might choose to sue Brody’s estate in addition to MTA and any other party with money that might be connected to the collision. Establishing proof that the driver was not at fault may be a key objective for the family. All speculation on my part - I’m not a lawyer.
I don’t see the MTA going for a settlement on this, as it is clear that the driver was completely at fault. In fact, I would not be surprised to see a countersuit.
Not really a surprise here. Lawyers will sue and countersue, file motions and so on and so on. But in the end it won’t bring anyone back to life.
Any judge with a shred of common sense would throw this out after about two seconds of consideration. The family has a lot of brass, sticking their necks out like that - you can already smell the counter suits in th air.
The railroads are not though completely absolved of responsibility when it comes to crossings. The state or feds generally request/set up the crossing, but the rr’s maintain them. However, in this case it seems the xings were functioning normally, so even if this suit was legit, the state would be to blame for the “poorly designed xing.”
I still say that she committed suicide, there’s no other reason, in my mind, that anyone would stand in front of a train and let it hit you. When a train is coming toward you the fight or flight instinct would kick in; you can’t fight the train so you run from it.
If that had of been me i would have got out of that car quicker than you can say knife and clear of danger after all a car is just a tin box on wheels that is insured and can be replaced a life cannot.Blame culture strikes again its always someone else,s fault sorry for the loss of life but the car driver must be the responsible party
It’s not the fault of the driver? I’m not going to say that the DOT and/or the driver of the train shouldn’t shoulder some of the blame for the poorly designed crossing or any possible engineer error, but who gets into a car and drives forward when crossing lights are going off? You’d have to be pretty dense. Is it sad that she died? Of course. But if your first reaction is “get back in the car”, then you’re an idiot. I can’t believe any lawyer thinks this is winnable.
They are seriously gong to sue? What the hell… I mean no disrespect s here. But to me it is extremely stupid for the to think they got a chance to even do that. I mean the is clear evidence that SHE pulled into a spot saw the crossing gate go down stop and even get out st see if the gates damaged her vehicle before getting back in. Seriously???
Sue the railroad?!?!?! That never works. Wonder where the family found the ambulance chaser.
Sorry folks, I believe the families of the 5 passengers that were killed because of Ellen Brody’s mistaken decision to drive forward, should sue HER estate for wrongful death! How else can the lawyers make payments on their sports cars if the don’t tag every accident as the fault of the richest client!
Unbelievable! I have seen this woman called suicidal, a moron, and an idiot in these comments. I think what probably happened was she simply paniced and made a tragic decision. It is so easy to sit behind ones keyboard and say I would have done this or that without having a train bearing down on you and only seconds to do anything. This was a tragic accident that caused six people to die. Name calling does nothing to change it. How many of us have made bad decisions and gotten away with it. As I stated in a previous response, a lawsuit is not going to bring anyone back. How about a little sympathy for all families and friends of those involved. A little humanity people.
As I mentioned, I wonder if this crossing has had a history of false activations. If so, having her mind consumed by other events in her life that day could have distracted her. Seems she got out, looked to see if the gate damaged her car, got back in, and proceeded on in life totally oblivious to the approaching train. In an FRA paper that surveyed drivers of their responsibilities at a crossing, an unbelievable amount thought the train was supposed to stop for them. Was she one of them?
it’s amazing how low lawyers stoop just to rack up the “billable hours”.
This is a crossing in a VERY congested area of the country used by hundreds of drivers everyday. Now it is claimed to be a problem? Granted, the only reason Ms. Brody was on that crossing was due to a detour leading to a lack of situational awareness. The only good that can come from a lawsuit is the closing of the crossing.
Mr Wallace. Plaintiffs lawyers in cases like this usually only work on contingency basis, IE they only get money if they get money for their clients. The billable hour lawyers are generally defense lawyers. Like those who are going to be representing Metro North. Your tax dollars hard at work.
My prayers are with everyone involved.