Train Accident: Your legal rights after a train crash in California

A train collision, derailment or sudden stop can cause catastrophic injuries or wrongful death in seconds. If you or someone you love has been injured or killed in a train accident, experienced train accident attorneys in California at Walch Law can help you understand who may be legally responsible and what compensation may be available under California law. Our Personal Injury and Wrongful Death attorneys help injured victims and grieving families understand their legal options and pursue accountability. Please contact us today for your FREE consultation and case evaluation. We have been helping injured victims and grieving families for over 50 years.

Train accident claims can be more complex than ordinary car accident cases. An experienced train accident lawyer can investigate the collision, identify liable parties, preserve evidence and explain applicable deadlines. Certain claims against California public entities must generally be filed within six months. State and federal laws may also affect liability and compensation in train accident and wrongful death cases. We help train accident victims and grieving families navigate this difficult time and pursue compensation under California law. Contact us today for your FREE consultation.

Why Train Accident Claims Are Different

A freight or passenger train can weigh thousands of tons. It cannot swerve and at speed it can take a mile or more to stop. That is why train crashes tend to cause catastrophic harm: traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, amputations, crush injuries, severe burns and death.

The legal side is just as heavy. A railroad is usually a large company with a claims department and defense counsel ready from day one. Depending on who owns and operates the train, your claim may fall under California’s Government Claims Act, federal railroad safety law or the law of carriers. Each has its own rules and a mistake in the first weeks can cost you the claim.

Common Types of Train Accidents in Southern California

Collisions at Railroad Crossings

These happen when a train strikes a car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle or pedestrian at a public or private crossing. Causes include broken gates or lights, warning signals that fail to activate, blocked sight lines from overgrown vegetation or parked vehicles, poor road design that traps cars on the tracks and drivers who try to beat a train.

Derailments and Train-To-Train Collisions

Derailments can result from track defects, excessive speed, equipment failure or crew error. Collisions between trains often involve signal problems, dispatching errors or fatigued or distracted crews. Passengers, crew and people near the tracks can all be hurt.

Passenger Injuries on Board and at Stations

Not every injury involves a crash. Sudden braking, sudden starts, slips and falls on wet platforms, doors that close on passengers, wide platform gaps, poor lighting and failures to control dangerous people on a train or at a station can all cause serious harm.

Light Rail, Subway and Streetcar Accidents

Metro’s light rail lines run at street level through busy intersections. Pedestrians, cyclists and drivers can be struck by trains while crossing, turning or waiting on platforms. These claims frequently involve a public agency, which triggers the short claim deadlines discussed below.

Railroad Worker Injuries

Railroad employees are generally not covered by California workers’ compensation. Their injury claims are usually governed by the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), 45 U.S.C. §§ 51–60, which has its own standards and a three-year time limit (45 U.S.C. § 56). If you work for a railroad, tell us so we can evaluate the right path.

Trains in Los Angeles, Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley

Whether you live in Woodland Hills, Encino, Tarzana, Sherman Oaks, Calabasas or Beverly Hills, you probably cross tracks or ride a train more often than you realize. Metrolink’s Ventura County Line carries commuters through Burbank, Van Nuys, Northridge, Chatsworth, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Camarillo and Oxnard. Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner shares much of that corridor and Union Pacific and BNSF run freight through the region. Metro’s light rail serves Pasadena, downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Long Beach and Metrolink’s other lines reach into Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The region’s worst modern rail disaster happened in our own backyard. On September 12, 2008, a Metrolink commuter train collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, killing 25 people and injuring many more. The tragedy led Congress to pass the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which required positive train control, a technology that can automatically slow or stop a train to prevent certain collisions. Better technology has made rail travel safer, but crashes, crossing collisions and platform injuries still happen every year.

Who Can Be Held Legally Responsible?

Finding every responsible party matters, because each one may carry its own insurance and its own share of the blame. Depending on the facts, a train accident attorney may look at:

• The railroad or train operator, for crew negligence, speeding, failure to sound the horn, fatigue or inadequate training.
• A public transit agency, such as a regional rail authority or a county transportation agency, for operating and maintenance failures.
• A city, county or other owner of the roadway or crossing approach, if a dangerous condition of public property contributed (Government Code § 835).
• Track, signal and maintenance contractors who installed or serviced crossing gates, lights or rails.
• Equipment manufacturers, if a defective brake, coupling, door  or signal component played a part.
• Other drivers or property owners, for example, a truck driver who stalled on the tracks or a landowner whose overgrowth blocked the view.

The Legal Rules That Shape Your Claim

Passenger Carriers Owe the Highest Duty of Care

Under California Civil Code § 2100, a carrier of persons for reward must use “the utmost care and diligence” for its passengers’ safe carriage. The California Supreme Court has applied that heightened duty to public transit carriers (Lopez v. Southern California Rapid Transit Dist. (1985) 40 Cal.3d 780). That is a higher standard than the ordinary duty of reasonable care.

Comparative Fault

California follows pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804). If a jury finds you were 20 percent at fault, your damages are reduced by 20 percent. You are not barred from recovery just because you share some blame. Under Civil Code § 1431.2, each defendant is generally responsible only for its own share of non-economic damages, which is one reason identifying every responsible party matters.

Federal Preemption

Federal railroad safety law can limit some state-law claims. For example, when federal funds paid for warning devices at a crossing, courts have held that certain claims about the adequacy of those devices cannot go forward (CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Easterwood (1993) 507 U.S. 658; Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Shanklin (2000) 529 U.S. 344; 49 U.S.C. § 20106). Other claims, such as negligent operation, failure to maintain a crossing or vegetation blocking sight lines, may still be viable. This is a technical area where an attorney’s early review matters.

Rules for Drivers at Crossings

California Vehicle Code § 22451 requires drivers to stop when a crossing signal or a flagger warns of an approaching train and not to proceed until it is safe. Railroads and their insurers often point to these rules to argue a driver was at fault. A careful investigation of whether the gates, lights and bells actually worked is frequently the heart of the case.

Critical Deadlines: Do Not Wait

Many train cases involve more than one defendant and they may have different deadlines. The safest course is to treat the shortest deadline as your deadline. Our consultation is absolutely FREE and there is NO FEE until you win, so please contact us now for your case evaluation.

Evidence That Can Make or Break a Train Case

Trains carry far more evidence than most vehicles, but much of it is held by the railroad. Federal rules require locomotives to carry event recorders that capture data such as speed, braking, and horn activation (49 C.F.R. § 229.135). Federal regulations also require image and audio recording devices on many passenger locomotives (49 C.F.R. § 229.136). Other important evidence includes signal and gate maintenance logs, dispatch records, crew work schedules and fatigue records, track inspection reports, and 911 audio. An attorney can send a preservation (spoliation) letter demanding that the railroad keep this evidence and can retain engineers and human-factors experts to analyze it.

Preserve your own evidence as well: do not repair or scrap your vehicle until it has been inspected, keep damaged clothing and personal items, save your ticket, TAP card or app records, keep every medical bill and avoid posting about the accident on social media.

Compensation You May Be Able to Recover

California law lets injured people seek compensation for losses caused by someone else’s wrongful conduct. In a train accident case, damages may include:

• Medical expenses, past and future: emergency care, surgery, hospital stays, rehabilitation, medication and long-term care.
• Lost income and loss of earning capacity if you cannot work  or cannot work as you did before.
• Pain and suffering, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life.
• Disfigurement and permanent impairment, including scarring and loss of limbs.
• Property damage, including your vehicle and diminished value after repair.
• Loss of consortium for a spouse affected by the injury.
• Punitive damages in rare cases involving fraud, oppression or malice, which require clear and convincing evidence (Civil Code § 3294).

Under Howell v. Hamilton Meats & Provisions, Inc. (2011) 52 Cal.4th 541, recoverable past medical expenses are generally limited to the amounts actually paid or incurred, not the full billed amount. Medical providers, hospitals, Medi-Cal, Medicare and health plans may also assert liens against a settlement, so negotiating and resolving liens is a real part of getting money into your pocket.

Wrongful Death After a Train Accident

When a train crash takes a life, family members have the right to seek justice. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60, a wrongful death action may be brought by certain surviving family members, including a spouse, domestic partner and children and in some cases others who depended on the person financially. Recoverable losses can include funeral and burial costs, the financial support the person would have provided, the loss of love, companionship, comfort, care and guidance and in some cases the value of household services (see Code of Civil Procedure § 377.61 and California’s civil jury instructions on wrongful death damages). The decedent’s estate may also bring a survival claim for losses the person suffered before death.

We know that no amount of money replaces a loved one. But a wrongful death claim can protect a family’s financial future and it can hold accountable the companies whose carelessness caused the loss.

Realistic Scenarios

A crossing collision: A driver is stopped at a crossing in the San Fernando Valley when traffic backs up onto the tracks. The gates come down and the train hits the vehicle. The railroad says the driver ignored the signals. Records later show the crossing’s signal had a history of timing problems and that a nearby signal cycle trapped vehicles on the tracks. Determining which party was responsible may require engineers, signal records and the locomotive’s event recorder.

A commuter-rail passenger: A rider on a Ventura County commuter train is thrown to the floor when the train brakes suddenly and breaks a hip. Because the operator owes passengers the utmost care, the question becomes whether the braking was necessary or the result of an avoidable error. The operator may be a public agency, so the six-month claim deadline would apply.

A light-rail pedestrian: A pedestrian crossing at a street-level light-rail intersection is struck after a crosswalk signal and train signal conflict. The potential defendants include the transit agency and the city that owns the street and the claim deadlines are short.

Why Hire Walch Law for a Train Accident Case?

Walch Law is a family-owned California personal injury firm with more than 50 years of experience handling serious and catastrophic injuries and wrongful death cases, including train and other transportation accidents throughout Los Angeles County, Ventura County and California. Our attorneys help injured victims and grieving families understand their legal options, document their losses, address property damage and pursue compensation.

We guide clients through every stage of their personal injury or wrongful death claim with personal attention and care. If you or someone you love has been injured or killed in a train accident anywhere in California, Walch Law is here to help you understand your legal rights and options. Contact us today for your FREE consultation. There is NO FEE until you win. You are never just a case number at Walch Law; we treat our clients like family.