RRD Wins Summary Judgment for Railroad in Wrongful Death Claim

RRD partners Bob Hickey and Beck Fineman secured a summary judgment in favor of a local commuter railroad in this wrongful death case. The plaintiff’s decedent was struck and killed by a train traveling from New Haven to New York during the morning rush hour. The plaintiff alleged that her decedent had fallen onto the track due to an accumulation of ice on the platform at the station. She alleged that the railroad was negligent in the manner in which it operated the trains, specifically that the train was operating too fast and that the railroad should not have operated a “through” train on a track adjacent to the platform. The case was dismissed on summary judgment after the trial court agreed that federal law preempted the plaintiff’s state common law claims. The plaintiff has taken an appeal which will be heard by the Connecticut Supreme Court this year.