WYANDOTTE, Mich. — The Michigan Court of Appeals has reinstated a lawsuit against the Grand Trunk Western Railroad involving a teen who was struck by a train in 2012.
The Associated Press reports Jacob Marion, who was 14 at the time, was stuck by a train and severely injured while walking down the tracks while wearing headphones. The case was dismissed by a judge who applied a case from 1899 involving a deaf person struck by a hand car, and said the train crew had tried to warn Marion, but he didn’t respond.
But in the appeals court decision, Judge Elizabeth Gleicher wrote that “a reasonable jury could conclude that [the] defendants had Jacob in plain sight and recognized his peril for a period of time sufficient to react so as not to strike him.”
The case now returns to Wayne County court.
Daniel Carleton wrote “Should be dismissed on the grounds of double jeopardy.”
I’m pretty certain this doesn’t apply because the case was never tried. The judge dismissed it without a trial, therefore no jeopardy was attached.
Perhaps CN should abandon its lines in Michigan. Obviously an unwanted and non-essential business.
Too bad someone can’t force Judge Elizabeth to spend a month riding the headends of freight trains and see the real world. You just can’t make this stuff up.
I’m quite sure the crew could see the kid walking from over 2 miles away… (sarcasm).
The other problem with our court ‘system’ is that the case is ten years old.
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”
This case makes a case for what Dick the Butcher advocates.
https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/characters/charlines.php?CharID=DickButcher&WorkID=henry6p2
What a nut job of a Judge, must be bleeding heart.
I feel bad that the kid got hurt. but kid was trespassing on right of way.
Crew saw kid on track, they had to determine if he was going to get out of way. then react (shut power then put train into emergency stop) which would take 2-3 seconds (probably 100 yards of travel). Take 3-5 seconds for all the train cars breaks to take hold (at least another 150 to 200 yards). Then, depending on length and weight of train multiplied by it’s speed (guessing 30-35 miles per hour); best case train would take about half a mile to stop. From spotting individual on track to stopping it could take close to 3/4 mile to stop. Crew would also pray nothing goes wrong in emergency breaking to cause a derailment.
Judges must apply laws with common sense. Ooops, forgot anyone in power in the country lost their common sense long ago.
Palin and simple, kid was trespassing. Next case……
Plain.
Should be dismissed on the grounds of double jeopardy.
Yup, that big bad train should be able to stop on a dime, RIGHT???
Even if a train could stop on a dime, that wouldn’t help in many cases. Trains don’t chose their speed based on what may or may not be on the tracks. Fr example trains speed into a curve that the driver can’t see around.
Kids, if you walk down the tracks you get hit. That simple.
When I make a list of the enemies of the United States, I always start with our own judiciary.