Personal Injury Law: Transportation
Personal Injury Law: Transportation
Though accidents can occur virtually anywhere and under any circumstances, some of the more serious and costly accidents occur while people are involved in transportation-related activities. This chapter provides a brief overview of the laws and issues regarding automobile, maritime, railroad, and aviation accidents. It should be stressed that tort litigation involving transportation-related activities can be extremely complicated. Retaining an inexperienced lawyer may result in a plaintiff losing a lawsuit or not receiving the recovery that he or she deserves. It is important that plaintiffs choose attorneys with appropriate levels of experience and familiarity with the subject matter of the lawsuit.
Automobile Accidents
Like any state, Illinois has its share of serious automobile accidents. Illinois requires its residents to carry minimum vehicle liability insurance for their vehicles. The purpose of the requirement is to ensure coverage for motorists involved in accidents with uninsured drivers. Each person in an accident files a claim with his or her own insurance company asking for reimbursement for any medical bills resulting from the accident and for any economic losses such as lost wages. The minimum insurance requirements are $40,000 for injury or death of more than one person in an accident, $20,000 for injury or death of one person in an accident, and $15,000 for damage to the property of another person. Illinois' mandatory insurance provides insurance to cover motorists who have an accident with an uninsured or underinsured motorist. The Illinois Safety Responsibility Law requires at-fault uninsured motorists to pay for the damages they cause or face license plate and driver's license suspensions. Inquiries about the Safety Responsibility Law may be made to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
A lawsuit for a motor vehicle accident in Illinois requires proving fault. If a jury awards damages as a result of such a lawsuit, the law requires that the damage award to the injured motorist be reduced by any amount of money already received under the insurance benefit system.
| Auto Accident Checklist |
| If you are in an accident, particularly if someone is injured or there is a great deal of property damage, try to collect the following information
from the other driver(s) involved in the accident: |
- Name and address
- License plate number
- Make, model, and year of car
- Driver's license number
- Had any driver apparently been drinking?
- Any verbal statements made by other driver(s) as to the cause of the accident
- Names and addresses of passengers in other car(s)
|
| Before moving any of the vehicle(s) involved in the accident, attempt to
note: |
- Position of your vehicle
- Position of any other vehicles
- Location of any tire marks, blood, broken glass, etc., on the road
or side of the road
- Location of point of impact in relation to the center of the road
- Road conditions
- Traffic conditions
- Weather conditions
|
| While the accident is still fresh in your memory, write down: |
- Date and time of accident
- Location of accident
- Speed of your car just before the accident
- Direction of your car and other car(s) involved in the accident
- Was either car turning?
- Did the car turning have its turn signal on?
- If the accident occurred at night, did you have your vehicle lights
on? Did other car(s)?
- Any other pertinent facts
|
Maritime Personal Injury
Recreational boaters, cruise ship passengers, sailors on commercial ships, longshore and harbor workers, and off-shore oil employees may at some point in time become injured and require the services of an attorney. When choosing an attorney regarding a maritime matter, it is very important to choose someone experienced in maritime law. The law governing maritime issues is a complicated jumble of federal statutes, United States Supreme Court decisions, and centuries-old common law. A general practitioner unfamiliar with the dips and turns of maritime law may have difficulty properly representing a client.
Railroad Accidents
The October 1995 deaths of seven high school students in Fox River, Illinois, whose school bus was hit by a commuter train at a railroad crossing, is a reminder that railroad accidents remain an all-too-frequent occurrence. By law, railroad carriers have a duty to maintain the reasonable safety of their tracks, particularly around railroad crossings. Railroad carriers can be held liable if an accident occurs where there are defective or an insufficient number of warning lights and signs. Additionally, railroad engineers and crews have a duty to keep a lookout for potential problems and to sound the train's horn when approaching potentially dangerous areas. Persons crossing or near railroad tracks also have a duty to act reasonably. Remember that Illinois recognizes the doctrine of comparative negligence. If a person is partially responsible for an accident, any damage award he or she receives can be reduced by the extent to which he or she was responsible.
Railroad employees who are hurt on the job are entitled to recover damages from their employer under the Federal Employer's Liability Act (FELA). FELA is like a workers' compensation program for railroad employees. FELA enables railroad employees to recover for any injury "resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of [the railroad], or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, tracks, roadbeds, works, boats, wharves or other equipment." Recovery under FELA is the exclusive remedy for railroad employees injured on the job.
Aviation Accidents
While commercial aircraft remain the safest means of long distance travel, accidents do happen, and the litigation that follows an airline crash is notoriously complicated. Plaintiff lawyers in airline cases face a variety of difficult issues. For example: What law (federal or state) should be used? Where is the best forum for the trial? Should lawsuits be brought individually or as a class action? Who should be sued as a defendant aircraft manufacturer; aircraft operator or owner; airport operator, manufacturer or corporate officers; component-parts manufacturers)? What is the best theory of recovery (strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty, statutory)? What is the best method of proving damages? How should evidence of the crash be preserved? It is obvious, therefore, that when choosing an attorney to represent your interests after an airline accident, it is best to choose someone with experience in airline tort litigation.
Resources
Illinois Department of Transportation, Accident Records Section, 3215 Executive Park Drive, Springfield, IL 62794, phone: (217) 782-4516.
Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Bar Center, 424 South Second Street, Springfield, IL 62701, phone: (217) 525-1760. For information or to order free pamphlets, such as Auto Accidents
Office of the Secretary of State, Mandatory Insurance Division, 429 Howlett Building, Springfield, IL 62756, phone: (217) 524-4946.
United States Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20591, phone: (202) 267-3111; Federal Railroad Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW, #8206, Washington, D.C. 20590, phone: (202) 366-0710; Maritime Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW, #8206, Washington, D.C. 20590, phone: (202) 366-5823; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20590, phone: (202) 366-9550.
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