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-   -   Train accident victim (Berkeley, CA woman) can't sue railroad (ownedby Austria) in the USA (http://www.travelbanter.com/showthread.php?t=182108)

[email protected] December 2nd, 2015 09:44 PM

Train accident victim (Berkeley, CA woman) can't sue railroad (ownedby Austria) in the USA
 

How old was (is) she? Was she careless?

Did she try to sue the RR (rail road) in Austria?


She had bought her Eurail pass, a multi-railway ticket, --- was she a young woman? (sounds like it)


---- Eurail pass ... like that movie with Julie Delpy


I thought this was mainly a [personal jurisdiction] issue (case),
but
the following excerpts suggest that there's more to it than that.


http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/articl...ad-3900913.php

2012 and this week (in 2015) ---- A Berkeley woman who lost her legs when she fell through a gap on a railway platform in Austria and was hit by a train can't sue the government-owned railroad for damages because it is legally immune, a divided federal appeals court has ruled.

Carol Sachs was injured on April 2007 at a station in Innsbruck. According to her lawsuit, she slipped through a gap and fell to the tracks when the doors of the train she was trying to board closed and the train started moving. Both her legs had to be amputated above the knee.

Her suit accused OBB, the Austrian national railroad, of operating the train negligently and failing to provide a safe place to board or to warn passengers.

http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastor...6/11-15458.pdf

.......... A few days later, on April 27, 2007, Sachs arrived at the Innsbruck train station and attempted to board a moving train. She fell to the tracks through a gap in the platform and suffered injuries that ultimately required the amputation of both legs above the knee.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/articl...in-6668446.php

tim..... December 3rd, 2015 08:25 PM

Train accident victim (Berkeley, CA woman) can't sue railroad (owned by Austria) in the USA
 

wrote in message
...

How old was (is) she? Was she careless?

Did she try to sue the RR (rail road) in Austria?


She had bought her Eurail pass, a multi-railway ticket, --- was she
a young woman? (sounds like it)


---- Eurail pass ... like that movie with Julie Delpy


I thought this was mainly a [personal jurisdiction] issue (case),
but
the following excerpts suggest that there's more to it than that.


Seems fair to me.

She can't sue the company in the USA because it has no operational presence
there.

The judge ruled that simply having ticket agents wasn't enough.

What's the problem with that?

(I know that it's unfair on the lady in question, but you simply cannot
allow people to chose the jurisdiction that they want to sue somebody based
on nothing other that personnel convenience)

tim




W. Wesley Groleau December 3rd, 2015 08:52 PM

Train accident victim (Berkeley, CA woman) can't sue railroad(owned by Austria) in the USA
 
On 12-03-2015 13:25, tim..... wrote:

wrote in message
...

How old was (is) she? Was she careless?

Did she try to sue the RR (rail road) in Austria?


She had bought her Eurail pass, a multi-railway ticket, --- was
she a young woman? (sounds like it)


---- Eurail pass ... like that movie with Julie Delpy


I thought this was mainly a [personal jurisdiction] issue (case),
but
the following excerpts suggest that there's more to it than that.


Seems fair to me.

She can't sue the company in the USA because it has no operational
presence there.

The judge ruled that simply having ticket agents wasn't enough.

What's the problem with that?

(I know that it's unfair on the lady in question, but you simply cannot
allow people to chose the jurisdiction that they want to sue somebody
based on nothing other that personnel convenience)


Although the citation was to a U.S. court, the mention of "immunity
because government-owned" suggested a suit in Austria where the
government owns it. But it might have meant something else ....


--
Wes Groleau

[email protected] December 3rd, 2015 10:39 PM

Train accident victim (Berkeley, CA woman) can't sue railroad(owned by Austria) in the USA
 

Hello. Thanks for the comments.

1. She asked for 20 million dollars.
I'm assuming such high awards don't happen in Europe.

2. The following newspaper article (from 2 years ago)
includes this sentence.

Fakt sei aber, dass "auf fahrende Züge" "nicht aufgesprungen werden" dürfe.


This is the only hint or suggestion of her [carelessness]
(or her [contributory negligence] )
that I've seen or read so far.


(from 2 years ago)
http://www.heute.at/news/oesterreich/art23655,969710

Frau verlor Beine und klagt ÖBB auf Millionen ...

Die ÖBB kann die Forderungen nicht nachvollziehen. "Es gab bisher widersprüchliche Urteile zur Causa", sagte ein ÖBB-Sprecher zum "Wirtschaftsblatt", der den "Unfall" als "sehr tragisch" bezeichnet.

Fakt sei aber, dass "auf fahrende Züge" "nicht aufgesprungen werden" dürfe.

Mit amerikanischen Anwälten bereite man sich jetzt auf einen möglichen Prozess zu dem Vorfall vor.

______________

Woman lost legs and complains ÖBB to millions ...

The ÖBB can not understand the demands. "There have been conflicting assessments of the Causa," said a spokesman for ÖBB "Wirtschaftsblatt", which refers to the "accident" as "very tragic".

Fact is, though, that are "not jumped" on moving trains "" should.

With American lawyers are preparing now for a possible process for the incident.




On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12:44:59 PM UTC-8, wrote:
How old was (is) she? Was she careless?

Did she try to sue the RR (rail road) in Austria?


She had bought her Eurail pass, a multi-railway ticket, --- was she a young woman? (sounds like it)


---- Eurail pass ... like that movie with Julie Delpy


I thought this was mainly a [personal jurisdiction] issue (case),
but
the following excerpts suggest that there's more to it than that.


http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/articl...ad-3900913.php

2012 and this week (in 2015) ---- A Berkeley woman who lost her legs when she fell through a gap on a railway platform in Austria and was hit by a train can't sue the government-owned railroad for damages because it is legally immune, a divided federal appeals court has ruled.

Carol Sachs was injured on April 2007 at a station in Innsbruck. According to her lawsuit, she slipped through a gap and fell to the tracks when the doors of the train she was trying to board closed and the train started moving. Both her legs had to be amputated above the knee.

Her suit accused OBB, the Austrian national railroad, of operating the train negligently and failing to provide a safe place to board or to warn passengers.

http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastor...6/11-15458.pdf

......... A few days later, on April 27, 2007, Sachs arrived at the Innsbruck train station and attempted to board a moving train. She fell to the tracks through a gap in the platform and suffered injuries that ultimately required the amputation of both legs above the knee.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/articl...in-6668446.php



[email protected] December 3rd, 2015 10:50 PM

Train accident victim (Berkeley, CA woman) can't sue railroad(owned by Austria) in the USA
 

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12:44:59 PM UTC-8, wrote:
How old was (is) she?



I found the answer:


http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/articl...ot-4225181.php

.......

Sachs, who had bought a Eurail pass, was injured in April 2007 at a station in Innsbruck. She said she slipped through a gap and fell to the tracks when the doors of the train she was trying to board closed and the train started moving. Both her legs had to be amputated above the knee.

Her suit accused OBB of operating the train negligently, failing to provide a safe place to board and failing to warn passengers. Those issues remain on hold while the courts address the railroad's claim of legal immunity.

Sachs is now 48 and works for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said her lawyer, Geoffrey Becker.




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