Train Accident Lawyer

A train derailment, railroad crossing collision, or sudden impact inside a passenger train can cause tremendous force to the head and body. A person can walk away from a crash and later struggle with headaches, memory problems, confusion, fatigue, changes in mood, or difficulty concentrating.

Those changes can affect work, relationships, and everyday responsibilities. When the injury is severe, a family member may suddenly become a caregiver while trying to understand what recovery will require.

For nearly five decades, Brain Injury Law Center has focused on representing brain injury survivors and their families. Our firm has handled major transportation and traumatic brain injury cases, including a $60.26 million train accident verdict for a man who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury after a derailment sent train cars crashing into the gas station where he was working.

If you or someone you love suffered a head or brain injury in a railroad accident, a train accident lawyer at Brain Injury Law Center can investigate the collision and help determine what compensation could be available. Call (757) 244-7000 or contact us online for a free consultation.

A serious railroad accident can involve passengers, motorists at a crossing, pedestrians, railroad employees, or people near the site of a derailment.

Brain Injury Law Center handles serious injury cases involving:

• Train derailments: Railcars can leave the tracks, overturn, or collide, throwing passengers from their seats or into objects inside the train.
• Railroad crossing collisions: Cars, trucks, motorcycles, cyclists, and pedestrians can be struck when a train enters a crossing.
• Passenger train accidents: Sudden impacts, falls, and collisions aboard a train can cause serious head and other injuries.
• Freight train accidents: Derailments and collisions can injure railroad employees and people near the tracks.
• Pedestrian accidents: A person struck by a train can suffer catastrophic or fatal injuries.
• Subway and commuter rail accidents: Collisions, derailments, and falls can seriously injure passengers.
• Railroad worker accidents: Employees can suffer head trauma while working aboard trains, in rail yards, at crossings, or along tracks.

The forces involved in a train accident can cause the brain to move violently inside the skull. A passenger does not have to strike their head against a window, seat, or wall to suffer a traumatic brain injury. Rapid acceleration and deceleration can also injure the brain.

Train accidents can result in:

• Concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries;
• Contusions and bleeding in or around the brain;
• Skull fractures;
• Diffuse axonal injuries;
• Penetrating brain injuries; and
• Brain damage associated with a loss of oxygen.

The word “mild” in mild traumatic brain injury describes a medical classification. The effects can still be serious.

Memory problems, headaches, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, sleep problems, sensitivity to light or noise, depression, and personality changes can continue after visible injuries have healed.

Family members may notice changes the survivor does not. Someone who previously managed the household finances may begin missing payments. Conversations may be forgotten or repeated. Familiar tasks at work may suddenly require much more effort.

These changes can become important when determining what treatment, rehabilitation, assistance, and financial support the survivor will need in the future.

“Everyday is spent preparing for your case. Your goals become my mission.”

— Stewart Gill, Attorney at Brain Injury Law Center

Train accidents can result from failures involving the tracks, train, railroad crossing, equipment, or people responsible for operating and maintaining the rail system.

Causes can include:

• Damaged or poorly maintained tracks;
• Signal or switching failures;
• Excessive speed;
• Train operator fatigue or distraction;
• Mechanical failures;
• Defective train or railroad components;
• Inadequate inspection or maintenance;
• Communication errors;
• Obstructions on the tracks;
• Unsafe railroad crossings;
• Malfunctioning crossing gates or warning lights; or
• Failure to follow railroad safety requirements.

Determining the cause can be especially important when a survivor has little or no memory of the accident, which can occur with a traumatic brain injury.

A railroad accident lawyer can investigate event recorder information, video, signal records, maintenance documents, train communications, and witness accounts without relying on the survivor to remember every detail.

Brain Injury Law Center has direct experience with a major derailment case. A 38-car train derailed, and two train cars crashed into the gas station where our client was working. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and severe leg injuries. A jury ultimately returned a verdict exceeding $60 million.

A violent railroad accident can cause multiple catastrophic injuries at once, including:

• Spinal cord injuries and paralysis;
• Amputations;
• Crush injuries;
• Severe fractures;
• Internal bleeding and organ damage;
• Burns;
• Neck and back injuries; and
• Fatal injuries.

When someone arrives at the hospital with fractures, burns, internal bleeding, or other life-threatening trauma, a brain injury may not receive the same immediate attention. Symptoms of a concussion or TBI can become more apparent as the survivor begins recovering from those injuries.

Responsibility depends on what caused the accident and who controlled the equipment, tracks, crossing, or operation involved.

Potentially responsible parties can include:

• A railroad company;
• A train operator;
• The owner of the tracks;
• A maintenance or inspection contractor;
• A train or component manufacturer;
• A company responsible for a railroad crossing; or
• A government or public transit entity.

A train accident attorney can investigate the companies and agencies involved and determine which records need to be obtained.

The applicable laws can also depend on whether the injured person was a passenger, motorist, pedestrian, or railroad employee. Claims involving public transportation or government entities can have additional requirements and deadlines.

Brain Injury Law Center has spent decades working with survivors whose injuries affect memory, cognition, employment, independence, and family life. If a train accident caused a serious head or brain injury, call (757) 244-7000 to discuss the accident and the challenges your family is facing.

A traumatic brain injury from a train accident can affect what a person needs for years to come. The financial impact can depend heavily on whether the survivor can return to work, live independently, drive, manage money, or care for their children.

A train accident claim involving a TBI can seek compensation for:

• Brain injury treatment and rehabilitation: Neurological care, neuropsychological testing, cognitive rehabilitation, occupational therapy, and other TBI-related treatment.
• Future care: Ongoing therapy, supervision, in-home assistance, medical equipment, or home modifications.
• Changes in earning ability: Memory problems, slowed processing, fatigue, impaired judgment, or difficulty concentrating can prevent someone from returning to the same work.
• Loss of independence: A brain injury can affect driving, managing finances, preparing meals, parenting, and other activities the survivor previously handled alone.
• Other injuries: Compensation can also address spinal cord injuries, fractures, amputations, burns, and other trauma suffered in the accident.
• Wrongful death: Families who lose someone in a train accident can pursue damages available under applicable wrongful death laws.

Future losses can be a significant part of a brain injury claim. Medical, rehabilitation, vocational, and life-care professionals can help determine the treatment and support the survivor is likely to need over time.

After a catastrophic train accident, the survivor may be unconscious, hospitalized, confused, or unable to remember what happened. Family members are usually focused on medical decisions and getting through the next few days.

Medical care comes first. You are not expected to investigate the accident yourself.

As recovery begins:

• Tell doctors about changes in memory, behavior, concentration, sleep, balance, or personality.
• Listen to family members. A person with a TBI may not recognize changes in their own abilities.
• Keep anything you already have from the trip or accident, such as tickets, photographs, emails, or train information.
• Do not feel pressured to explain an accident you cannot remember to the railroad or its insurer.

The legal investigation can happen separately. Attorneys can pursue train data, video, railroad records, maintenance documents, and witness accounts without asking the survivor or family to reconstruct the accident themselves.

Brain Injury Law Center can take on that work while the survivor and family focus on treatment and recovery.

A train accident case requires evidence of what caused the accident and how the resulting brain injury has affected the survivor.

Evidence from the railroad can include:

• Event recorder data;
• Video footage;
• Signal and switching records;
• Track and equipment maintenance records;
• Operator schedules and training records;
• Radio and dispatch communications;
• Crossing records; and
• Witness statements.

Medical records, neurological evaluations, neuropsychological testing, and rehabilitation records can document the TBI itself.

The survivor's life can provide evidence too. Family members and coworkers may notice forgotten conversations, difficulty completing familiar tasks, or responsibilities the survivor can no longer manage independently.

Why Choose Brain Injury Law Center for a Serious Train Accident Case?

Brain Injury Law Center has spent nearly five decades representing brain injury survivors and their families. Traumatic brain injury litigation is a central focus of the firm's work.

When a train accident causes a TBI, the case needs to address the injury's long-term consequences, including:

• Whether the survivor can return to the same career;
• Whether they can continue living independently;
• What medical care, rehabilitation, or personal assistance they will need; and
• How cognitive or behavioral changes have affected everyday life.

Brain Injury Law Center's experience includes a train derailment case resulting in a verdict of more than $60 million for a client who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury and severe leg injuries.

A train accident attorney at Brain Injury Law Center can build the case around the cause of the accident, the brain injury, and the survivor's future needs.

“The attorneys and staff are great to work with. They care not only about a successful recovery, but ensuring their clients know what options are available for protecting the recovery long-term.”

— Andy Hook, Client Review