The Virginia Supreme Court on October 31, 2014, issued a ruling that could significantly benefit plaintiffs who file wrongful death claims against corporations operating in the state. The decision came 10 years after the husband of the woman seeking to hold a Haymarket, VA-based lumber…
An unexpected tragedy led to the daylong closure of the main government office building for the Town of South Boston, Virginia (VA), on October 28, 2014. A steel vault door weighing several hundred pounds fell off its hinges and landed on an accounts receivable clerk…
A collision between a Union Pacific freight train and a tractor-trailer in Mer Rouge, Louisiana (LA), on October 5, 2014, left two rail crew members critically injured. The conductor needed to be flown by helicopter to shreveport, more than an hour away, to have his…
Union Pacific on September 26, 2014, received an order from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to reinstate and pay punitive damages to a rail yard worker it had illegally suspended for reporting safety problems. In announcing its ruling in the whistleblower case, the…
A serious car accident in Fayettesville, North Carolina (NC) killed one and sent the child passenger to the hospital with serious injuries. According to the Fayettesville police, a Dodge Magnum on Owen Drive ignored a stop sign and slammed into another car at the intersection…
Recognizing that railroad maintenance workers require more protection from on-the-job accidents that cause serious injuries and deaths, federal regulators on September 24, 2014, issued a report calling for better supervisory practices and greater coordination of national rules regarding unacceptable
A jury in Durham, North Carolina (NC) found an ophthalmologist and a hospital was negligent when they used the wrong drug during a cataract surgery. This led to severe damage in one of the patient’s eyes. He was awarded $1.5 million in the case. The…
Police stated this week that a three year-old boy died from injuries that he received in a Charlotte, North Carolina (NC) crash that killed his mother and injured his brother the day before. The three-year old died Sept. 9 at a local hospital, and his…
A significant victory for public and workplace safety occurred on Sept. 10, 2014, when the lead union representing freight railroad conductors and ground crew members rejected a proposed revised work agreement with Burlington Northern Santa Fe to use one-person crews on more than half of…
An old, more-sad-than-funny joke runs, “I didn’t get rich by writing a lot of checks.” My decades of work on behalf of railroad employees who developed disabling and fatal lung diseases after working with and around asbestos have nearly convinced me that rail corporations ranging…
It appears that drunk driving took yet another young life in North Carolina. On the evening of Aug. 31, a 2006 Subaru Forester was traveling in Hickory, NC when it hit a curb and flipped several times. It came to rest in a field next…
The death of a passenger ejected from an SUV on I-64 in James City County, Virginia (VA), is likely to raise difficult questions regarding liability and automobile insurance coverage. Even though the pain and loss will remain for the deceased man’s friends and family regardless…