If you are involved in an accident involving a train, consult experienced train accident attorneys to protect the rights of yourself and others. Although train accidents have happened for many years, it seems like recent events are more frequent and more injurious. Notwithstanding certain recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and other government and non-governmental agencies, available technologies that could prevent many of these deadly incidents have not been adopted. The recent slew of well-publicized train incidents that have caused serious injuries and often death to passengers, pedestrians and those in automobiles are almost exclusively concluded to arise out of human error or negligence by the relevant company or municipality. If you or a loved one is injured or killed as a result of a train accident, it is important to consult the best accident lawyers in Alaska that employ experienced train accident attorneys. According to NTSB estimates, Positive Train Control (PTC) could have prevented 145 train crashes between 1969 and 2015, 298 deaths and nearly 7,000 injuries. This technology is used throughout most of Europe and even in poor countries, although its use is sporadic in the United States. Without PTC, engineers who miss critical signals, fall asleep or suffer some sort of medical emergency may cause a fatal crash. With PTC, this would not happen. This is negligence. Your train accident attorneys will know that, pursuant to Alaska Statute §09.10.070, any lawsuit seeking monies related to personal injuries or wrongful death must be filed within two (2) years, whether or not it is part of a legal action with multiple issues or a standalone civil suit. If you miss the above-stated deadline to file your lawsuit, it is likely that the person you sue will file papers seeking to dismiss your suit. Unless you have already been granted an extension of this deadline (something difficult to obtain in most circumstances), the Court will dismiss your case and you will be forever barred from recovering monies, even if the damage was unequivocally another person’s fault. Your train accident attorneys will also know that, typically, awards for physical injuries may be had for (i) economic damages (such as lost wages, medical bills and the like), (ii) non-economic damages (pain and suffering), (iii) emotional distress, (iv) wrongful death, and (v) loss of consortium (awarded to the injured person’s partner due to the inability of the injured party to perform as they did before). The first category is typically provable through documentary evidence; the others are more subjective and for a judge or jury to decide. A qualified personal injury attorney knows how to present the facts to a judge or jury that will aid in increased awards to an injured person. Consulting experienced train accident attorneys to help you fill out the proper forms and provide the necessary information not only ensures compliance with relevant laws and regulations, but also serves to create a paper trail with all relevant information, something that can only serve to improve your chances at prevailing on your claim.
