MIAMI, FL— June 20 2011 - Although the discovery of various bus safety hazards prompted the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to send Sky Express a shut down order, the North Carolina-based bus company filed a “corrective action plan” and was granted a 10-day extension. However, according to Bloomberg reports, four passengers died when a Sky Express bus became involved in a violent crash near Richmond, Virginia on May 31, 2011, three days into its extension.

It was only after the deadly Virginia bus accident occurred that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood took steps to bar U.S. bus safety regulators from granting such extensions. The law already mandates that bus companies be given 45 days to potentially appeal shutdown orders.

According to Anne Ferro, FMCSA’s administrator, this fiscal year, approximately one-fifth of the bus companies that were issued shutdown orders were subsequently given 10-day extensions. The extensions were granted as a means of allowing the companies that filed corrective action plans to prove that they were indeed making significant efforts to fix their safety problems.

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety Vice President Jackie Gillian contended, “They’re cheating the public by having these quiet, behind-the-scenes reviews of their safety and having their 45 days… Who would have gotten on that bus knowing the violations they had?”

Bus safety regulators used the five Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs)—unsafe driving; fatigued driving; driver fitness; controlled substances and alcohol; and vehicle maintenance— to determine whether Sky Express was in compliance with safety regulations. Reports indicated the bus company surpassed the FMCSA’s “intervention thresholds” in every category.

The bus company reportedly had “serious” safety violations in the categories related to driver fatigue and driver fitness, as well as one additional “serious” violation, which remained undisclosed, in the last year. Reports did not specify what other transportation safety violations were committed during that 12-month span.

According to information provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) through the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 221 buses became involved in fatal accidents during the year 2009. Overall, traffic accidents claimed the lives of 33,808 crash victims in the United States that year.

About the Miami injury lawyers and bus accident attorneys of Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso, Spier & Connolly, P.A.

 

For more than thirty years, the knowledgeable Miami injury law firm of Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso, Spier & Connolly, P.A. has represented accident victims who suffer serious injuries in car crashes, bus accidents, railroad accidents and other transportation disasters caused by the negligence of another party. With extensive experience litigating the complex personal injury and wrongful death claims of negligence victims and their families, the Florida personal injury law firm of Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso, Spier & Connolly, P.A. strives to provide justice to their clients so that they may obtain the compensation they truly deserve.

 

MIAMI, FL— June 20, 2011 - For railroad workers who are hurt on the job, filing an injury claim under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), rather than filing it in conjunction with workers’ compensation laws, can be a complex, but often beneficial decision. According to the Miami injury law firm of Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso, Spier & Connolly, P.A. (RBRS&C), though negligence must be proven on the part of the railroad in order for an injured employee to be eligible for compensation, damages awarded through FELA claims are often much higher than those acquired through workers compensation claims.

RBRS&C’s Railroad Division recently took on a case related to a shooting that left a train conductor, who was being represented in the lawsuit, as well as the locomotive’s engineer, injured. While specifics regarding the railroad injury case, such as the location, names of the victims and the railroad company involved, were withheld, reports state the train shooting occurred on a night in March

Around 10:30 p.m., as the locomotive was stopped at a red light, the train conductor noticed a man lying on the railroad tracks. The conductor spoke briefly with the engineer before attempting to contact dispatch so he could report what he had observed.

Before the conductor even had a chance to report the incident to dispatch, the train engineer took the initiative to get off the locomotive and assess the situation on his own. However, upon walking up to the body on the tracks, he found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol.

The unidentified man who was initially lying on the train tracks was no longer lying down, but instead holding a gun up to the engineer’s head and demanding that he hand over his money. A physical quarrel arose, and the locomotive engineer was consequently shot in the leg.

While the conductor made his way for the train steps in an attempt to help his injured co-worker, he too was shot. He suffered a gunshot wound to his right ankle, causing him to fall from the locomotive. The shooting victim sustained severe ankle, arm, and lower back injuries in the incident. The gunman ultimately fled the scene and was never identified or charged with any crime.

Although the engineer retired from his career and moved to Alabama to help his family’s business move along, the conductor, then age 35, subsequently contacted the Miami injury lawyers of Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso, Spier & Connolly, who are highly experienced in litigating FELA claims. Injury attorney Howard Spier represented the conductor with the aid of his RBRSC partners.

As previously mentioned, negligence must be proven on the part of the railroad in order for a FELA claim to move forward. However, this case was of an intricate nature, as “it wasn’t, after all, the railroad that leapt up from the tracks with a gun,” the South Florida lawyers explained in their newsletter.

Nevertheless, RBRSC attorneys managed to discovered two valid examples of how the railroad did indeed demonstrate neglect on the day of the incident.

Primarily, the railroad failed to establish a reasonably safe environment for the conductor to work in. Spier and the remaining RBRSC lawyers proved this by researching area crime rates in relation to the railroad on which the shooting occurred. In doing so, RBRSC’s Railroad Division discovered that the railroad, along with neighboring railroads, appeared to be a hotspot for crime in previous years.

Furthermore, RBRSC argued that the railroad failed to “train its employees on what to do should they come upon trespassers on or about the tracks.” Had the engineer been trained properly, he would have remained on the locomotive until the conductor reported observing a man on the tracks.

In December 2010, not only was the injured conductor awarded damages through a confidential settlement, the case spurred railroad officials to establish rules barring railroad employees from dismounting locomotives under similar circumstances. The case successfully provided justice for the plaintiff and set the groundwork for advances in the railroad industry.

About the Miami injury lawyers and railroad accident attorneys of Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso, Spier & Connolly, P.A.

 

For more than thirty years, the knowledgeable Miami injury law firm of Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso, Spier & Connolly, P.A. has represented accident victims who suffer serious injuries in car crashes, bus accidents, railroad accidents and other transportation disasters caused by the negligence of another party. With extensive experience litigating the complex personal injury and wrongful death claims of negligence victims and their families, the Florida personal injury law firm of Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso, Spier & Connolly, P.A. strives to provide justice to their clients so that they may obtain the compensation they truly deserve.