Slip and Fall on Leaky Amtrak Train Brings Settlement
The FELA attorneys at Lipkin & Higgins represented S. T., a 52-year-old woman who worked as a waitress on an Amtrak train traveling from Miami to New York. Due to heavy rains in the Carolinas, the diner car of the train began to leak through the ceiling causing the tile floor to become wet and slippery. S.T. slipped backwards while trying to walk on the floor, landing on her right wrist. She ended up having surgery to repair a fractured bone in her wrist. She also lost about a year and a half from work, first while the fracture healed, then again after a second surgery to take out the screws that had been inserted in the first surgery.
Before contacting Lipkin & Higgins, S. T. tried to work out a settlement with Amtrak on her own. Without representation, Amtrak’s top offer was $50,000.00. When Lipkin & Higgins were retained, we immediately filed suit in Dade County (Miami) Florida. We took several depositions of S.T.’s coworkers, all of whom admitted that the leaky ceiling posed a dangerous risk of injury. Several Amtrak crew had requested management to pull the car out of service and replace it with a different diner car, prior to S.T.’s fall Unfortunately, Amtrak failed to do so, and S.T. paid the price.
A few weeks before the trial was to take begin in Miami, Amtrak finally offered settlement in the amount of $222,500.00, which was a fair and reasonable amount.
