You may be right in that commuting via a passenger train is safer than getting behind the wheel of a standard motor vehicle. However, when an accident does result, a train accident is almost always more catastrophic than a car accident. And if you were unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time, you may be left seriously injured. With that, please read on to discover your potential legal rights after your personal injury accident and how one of the seasoned train passenger injury lawyers at Hildebrand McLeod & Nelson LLP can lay out your viable legal avenues.
What are my potential legal rights as an injured train passenger?
Your accident while aboard a passenger train may have been as minor as slipping, tripping, and falling on a walkway or stairway. Or, it may have been as severe as experiencing a train derailment that causes your train car to roll over, or colliding with a standard motor vehicle at a roadway intersection that causes your train car to get crushed. In any of these scenarios, there may have been a negligent party involved that prompted this incident. In turn, you should exercise your legal right to hold the negligent party liable in a lawsuit.
You must understand, though, that as a passenger, you are not covered under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA). This means you cannot file a FELA claim, but rather a personal injury claim. Nonetheless, there is still an opportunity for financial compensation for your incurred economic and non-economic damages alike.
How long do I possibly have to bring my legal claim forward?
Simply put, the statute of limitations for your personal injury claim may depend on where your train accident took place, and with which train company. For one, if you intend to sue Amtrak, you may need to bring your legal claim before the federal court. Generally speaking, you may be given a two-year deadline for this, meaning two years from the date you got injured or were able to identify your incurred injuries.
As for private rail companies, you may be held to the civil laws of the state where your accident happened, which is typically anywhere from one to six years. This is not to mention the Notice of Claim requirement, in which you may be expected to formally inform the rail company of your intention to file a lawsuit and seek to recover monetary damages. This may be state-based as well, which may give you a timeframe of anywhere between 30 days and a few years.
Last but not least, you must consider each state’s varying negligence laws. On the one hand, your accident may have happened in a comparative negligence state, which means you have the right to recover damages so long as you are found less than 50 percent at fault for the event. On the other hand, though, in a contributory negligence state, your claim may be dismissed altogether if you are assigned as little as one percent of the blame.
If you have made it this far, please do not hesitate to seek further information from one of the competent train passenger injury lawyers. The team at Hildebrand McLeod & Nelson LLP is willing and able to guide you through your future legal processes.
