Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed After Tractor Collides with AMTRAK
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a man who lost his wife and 18-year-old granddaughter in a collision involving an AMTRAK train and a tractor trailer. The two were riding in a passenger car behind the one that was struck by the tractor trailer. The passenger car they were riding in caught fire and the two died as a result.
The lawsuit claims the accident occurred because of driver negligence on the part of the tractor trailer driver. The suit names the driver and the company where he was employed as defendants. Another victim in the accident; a 16-year-old family member, survived the accident.
It does not take much for a train of any size to derail. Although the train was much bigger than the tractor trailer in this incident, the impact of the trailer with the train was significant enough to cause serious damage. The report states the 18-year-old was helping her grandparents raise her four other siblings. The 18-year-old was a childhood cancer survivor. That detail makes this incident much more tragic. There are no details in the report whether the driver of the tractor trailer lost control of his vehicle leading to the collision or not. The man who filed the lawsuit could win if the tractor trailer driver is found to have committed some sort of error that directly resulted in the collision, and subsequently resulting in the two deaths.
It is always tragic when a person’s life is cut so short for any reason; but when their life is cut short as a result of negligence by a second party, it is much worse. If the driver of the tractor trailer is found to have directly contributed to the accident leading to the two deaths, he should be held accountable for his actions leading to this loss of life. While bringing justice could provide the man with financial compensation, no amount of money could possibly help him cope with losing his wife whom he had been married to for 31 years, and his eldest granddaughter.
