(Thanks to whoever posted this first)
Posted on 10/27/2006 10:34:19 AM PDT by WKenny
Jury awards $24M to Pa. men burned after climbing rail car Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - A federal jury awarded $24.2 million to two men who were severely burned by electrical wires when they trespassed onto railroad property and climbed atop a rail car.
Jeffrey Klein and Brett Birdwell, who were 17 at the time of the accident, sued Amtrak and Norfolk Southern Corp. after being burned by a 12,500-volt electrical wire in Lancaster in August 2002. In their lawsuit, they argued that the companies should have placed warning signs alerting people to the wires, which power locomotives.
After an 11-day trial before U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel, the jury handed up its verdict in the liability phase Tuesday, finding the companies negligent. The jury issued the damage award Thursday.
Klein, who was burned over 75 percent of his body, was awarded more than $11 million in compensatory damages; Birdwell, who was burned over 18 percent of his body, was awarded more than $588,000. The jury also awarded a total of $12.5 million in punitive damages, $8.75 million against Amtrak and $3.75 million against Norfolk Southern.
A defense attorney, Paul F.X. Gallagher, had urged the jury to exonerate the companies, saying that the teens were old enough to recognize the danger of the wires. The companies can appeal the jury verdict and the awards.
An attorney for the plaintiffs said the companies had to bear some responsibility.
"The boys were trespassing, but the law doesn't give blanket immunity to the landowner," attorney Joseph Roda said. "Both Amtrak and Norfolk Southern knew a lethal danger existed but failed to post any warning signs."
Klein and Birdwell, each now 22, lived in Stroudsburg at the time of the accident, but had been visiting Klein's mother in Lancaster. They were skateboarding when they decided they wanted to see the view from the top of the boxcar, according to their lawsuit.
Klein was shocked by the catenary wire, which hung 6 feet above the car, even though he did not touch it; Birdwell was burned while he tried to help his friend.
Klein suffered second- and third-degree burns across much of his body, including his left ear, neck, shoulders, arms, hand, back and groin. He spent several months recovering at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia and now has limited use of his left hand.
Birdwell, who is now serving with the Army in Afghanistan, spent a year recovering from his burns.
Oh, but they now have so little, and Amtrak/Norfolk-Southern has so MUCH!
This isn't about individual responsibility, it's about corporate accountability!
Heh.
//sarc off
bump
(Thanks to whoever posted this first)
This ain't gonna make it past the appeals court.
The first thing we should do is kill all the lawyers.
I am confident this award will be eliminated or radically reduced on appeal.
However, rewarding stupidity only encourages more of it.
Rewarding stupid criminals is its own form of insanity.
and Who says crime doesn't pay?
Now we're rewarding law breaking?
Many years ago we had a similar incident in my small town - a kid became paralyzed when he jumped into a quarry. No Tresspassing signs everywhere and fencing around the property. He tried to sue based on his injury and that it took emergency crews forever to reach him because the fence was locked.
He lost.
These juries, in Federal Court here, tend to be pretty heavily weighted with Philadelphia Residents. My guess is a lot of folks out in the distant suburbs don't want to/ are afraid to come into Philadelphia.
So, anyways, you've got a jury of Philadelphians who are notorious for jackpot settlements. Only Mississippi can even come close to the ludicrous awards that we give out here.
Hopefully, sanity will prevail in a later appeal.
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
The award will stand though it might be reduced.
You now have to protect morons from themselves. Signs and physical barriers. Sounds like the railyard did'nt have eather.
One more example as to why those can avoid doing business in Philly, do.
I bet the guy who only got a half mill is mad he didn't get burned more like his 11 mil friend.
Maybe, but lawyers still have to be paid. Executives still have to take time to be deposed etc.
Whoa! So if I have a tree and a person who climbs it can get near electrical line, I need to put a warning sign on my damn tree since I am aware of the danger??
Someone needs to make a universal danger sign that we could put on everything to cover our butts. Maybe something like, "DANGER!"
That assumes the fools can read.
No wonder I'm not rich.
My I.Q. is exceptional.
The law that a landowner owes a duty of reasonable safety to even a trespasser goes back to the common law of England of the 16th Century and has always been incorporated into U.S. common law and, in some jurisdictions, statutes. The case law is legion and the autoritative precedents compelling. Jumping immediately to a conclusion that courts are allowing errant cases to be litigated and decided by juries is more ideological oriented than jurisprudentially analytical.
No, the power company has to for they have more to offer in damages financially than an individual does.
You wouldn't be worth suing as an individual. ; - )
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