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San Jose Train and Light Rail Accidents
With expensive gas prices, congested freeways, and ever-longer commutes, it’s no surprise the 1.049 million residents in and around San Jose, California are choosing public transportation and alternative commuting methods more frequently. Commuters, tourists, and residents alike are turning to Caltrain and the Santa Clara Valley’s light rail system, the VTA, more and more to meet their needs.
Unfortunately, with a rise in popularity and rise in ridership comes a rise in San Jose train and light rail accidents, injuries, and even fatalities. In September 2019, a woman was hit on the tracks and killed by Caltrain – the 13th such fatality reported by the transportation provider that year. Though injuries and even fatalities from such events are unfortunately commonplace, they are rarely inevitable or unpreventable; negligence often plays a part. Even when exercising the utmost caution in and around trains and light rail in San Jose, injuries do still occur, and the responsible parties should be held accountable.
Common Types and Causes of San Jose Train and Light Rail Accidents
There are many types of San Jose train and light rail accidents. Given that both small towns in San Mateo county leading to San Jose are served by light rail and trains as well as San Jose itself, many different problems can occur. With trains, common accident causes include:
- Train on train collisions
- Motor vehicle on train collisions
- Bicycle on train collisions
- Pedestrian on train collisions
- Railroad crossing accidents
- Derailments
Train derailment is a disastrous event that often causes severe injuries anyone on board. It can be caused by excess cargo weight, speeding, broken or faulty tracks, track obstructions, and faulty equipment; however, they’re most commonly associated with failures to comply with safety protocol. Railroad crossing accidents, on the other hand, are more often caused by defective signals and/or gates, failure to use lights and/or horns when approaching a crossing, crossings obstructed by debris, and objects protruding from the train.
Light rail accidents are typically caused differently due to their prolific presence in downtown San Jose. Most collisions occur at unprotected crossings and involve contact with other trains, pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor vehicles. Accidents are often caused by:
- Speeding
- Negligent operation
- Poor line maintenance
- Poorly parking a light rail car
- Obstruction on the track
No matter how these accidents occur, they are serious events that result in high fatality rates. Those who are lucky enough to survive often sustain catastrophic injuries to the head, neck, back, spinal cord, bones, and internal organs. These injuries can have after-effects for a lifetime and incur astronomical medical bills, changing a victim’s future forever.
Determining Responsibility for San Jose Train and Light Rail Accidents
Several different parties may be liable for personal or wrongful death injuries arising from San Jose train and light rail accidents. Depending on the circumstances, liability may attach to transit or rail authorities, maintenance companies, motor vehicle drivers, train companies, train manufacturers, and even engineers. An experienced personal injury attorney can help victims determine who may be liable based on the facts of their unique case.
Winning Your San Jose Train and Light Rail Accident Injury Case
There are different paths for recovering compensation for train and light rail injuries depending upon who’s at fault. If an at-fault vehicle driver caused the accident, you’d usually first file a claim with their insurance company. If you retain an attorney, they can conduct an investigation into fault, communicate with the insurer, determine a fair value for your claim, and negotiate for the best possible settlement offer to compensate you.
However, sometimes a fair settlement offer isn’t forthcoming, or the at-fault party was not operating the train or light rail vehicle. In these cases, you’d file either a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit against the responsible party. Depending on who’s to blame, you have different deadlines by which you must begin your lawsuit. With private parties you have 2 years from your injury date to file, but with government agencies and entities your window is only 6 months.
Compensation Available from Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Claims
Depending upon who was injured or killed in a San Jose train or light rail accident, different lawsuits may be filed. In personal injury lawsuits, you seek compensation to make up for the injuries you suffered from someone’s bad behavior. Personal injury victims commonly seek damages for injuries like medical bills, lost wages, and even pain and suffering.
If, however, you lost a loved one as a result of the accident, you would file a wrongful death lawsuit in court seeking compensation for financial and other harms resulting from their avoidable, sudden and unexpected absence. Victims often pursue damages for:
- Lost companionship, love, and support
- Expected financial contributions from the deceased to the household
- Funeral and/or burial expenses
Contact a San Jose Train and Light Rail Accident Attorney
If a San Jose train accident injured you or killed a loved one, you deserve compensation for these tragic, avoidable injuries. These cases can be complex, so save yourself the headache of dealing with insurance companies and government agencies and contact the experienced San Jose Train and Light Rail accident attorneys at Daneshrad Law, PC today. Alan Daneshrad and his team have spent years fighting for victims like you and standing up to government entities and big companies alike. Let us look out for your best interests and work to get you the compensation you deserve.
The Daneshrad Law team has ample knowledge, resources, and skills to deliver comprehensive representation that is aggressive towards wrongdoers but compassions towards you. You didn’t deserve to be injured by another’s bad behavior, and you don’t deserve to have your just compensation delayed excessively. We offer a free, no obligation initial case review, so call us today at (888) 881-3529 or (310) 858-8239, or you can contact us online. Let us review the facts of your situation, answer your questions, and start giving you the peace of mind you deserve so you can focus on your physical and emotional recovery.