You can claim compensation for the harms and losses you have suffered due to your injuries in a train accident. You can also file a wrongful death claim, if you are a dependent of a person who has died in a rail accident. However, in any type of personal injury lawsuit, it is important to prove three things in court to be successful in receiving adequate compensation from a jury verdict.
You should be able to show that the railway company was responsible for the accident, that this accident was the direct cause of your injuries, and that your injuries are significant or permanent. For this, you need good legal representation.
How are Railway Accident Cases Different?
All personal injury cases are basically the same, since the plaintiff has to prove the three points stated above. However, certain aspects of railway accident cases are different from other accident cases. In a road accident case, you have the opportunity of recovering the full extent of your economic loss, which includes the cost of all your existing medical bills, possible future medical expenses, loss of income, and any other financial loss you might have suffered because of your injuries.
However, in railway accidents, the federal government in 1997 imposed a cap of $200 million per accident on damages. This implies that if the damages of all the injured victims of a rail accident put together come to more than $200 million, the company need not pay anything above this figure. This would mean the awarded amount to the victims would be proportionately reduced to fit into the $200 million mark.
Can Fabulous Legal Representation Help
If you consider the current Amtrak crash, there are eight fatalities, and over 200 injured. This means there are around 208 potential personal injury lawsuits, and as per the current news, the total economic damages could well exceed the cap of $200 million or it could be less. If the jury awards more than this amount, the judge will have to reduce the amount of every victim proportionately. Everyone knows how juries like to reward irrational verdicts. John Grisham has written books about this.
Having an experienced lawyer or law firm represent your case, might greatly help in recovering a more reasonable amount in damages, as such a lawyer might be able to show to the jury clearly, the full extent of your financial loss because of your injuries.
If damages were awarded simply based on the presented evidence and medical records, every victim would be awarded damages adequately. However, this is not so, and a large deal depends on how the evidence is presented to the jury. Secondly, your lawyer will also be involved in selection process of the jury, which also plays a pivotal role in recovering damages. If your lawyer has managed to select the right jurors who will be sympathetic to your case, your chances of obtaining adequate compensation greatly increases.
Secondly, to an Amtrak crash victim who may still be highly emotional, the $200 million cap will seem outdated and unconstitutional under present circumstances. Returning American soldiers from battle do not receive any huge bonus and their trauma is severe. This is just another way to think about this. Should you receive $1 million for an arm wound that will heal or probably has already healed?
A much Larger Checking Account this Year Possibly
Therefore, rail accident victims might want to appeal against this law but that could take years and would not affect this case anyhow. Good legal representation will make sure you are paid from the $200 million that is available for you and you could have this money in 2015 possibly.
