Texas Eagle over Trinity Railway Express (TRE) tracks

[battalion51]

That would be nice. The big problem as far as I can tell is the state of Texas liability cap for The T and DART (owners/operators of TRE). In case of an accident, the passengers would all sue Amtrak because Amtrak doesn't have a liability cap while The T/DART do. So, even if the accident was entirely the fault of TRE and only injured TRE passengers, Amtrak would suffer. This is obviously unacceptable to Amtrak. It's the same problem which happened in Florida.

How about explaining how a TRE passenger on a TRE train on TRE tracks involved in an accident NOT involving AMTRAK can sue AMTRAK ... that just does not compute.

The worrisome situation is where a TRE train, run by a negligent TRE engineer (who is perhaps speeding and ignoring signals), smashes into an Amtrak train. Perhaps the Amtrak engineer cleverly manages to handle his train to avoid injury to Amtrak passengers. The TRE passengers sue Amtrak because... well, because they can't get any money from TRE, due to the Texas liability cap, so they're fishing around for someone to sue. Why on God's green Earth should Amtrak have to deal with that?

As the great sage Sweet Brown once said,

 

[daveyb99]

How about explaining how a TRE passenger on a TRE train on TRE tracks involved in an accident NOT involving AMTRAK can sue AMTRAK ... that just does not compute.

The worrisome situation is where a TRE train, run by a negligent TRE engineer (who is perhaps speeding and ignoring signals), smashes into an Amtrak train. Perhaps the Amtrak engineer cleverly manages to handle his train to avoid injury to Amtrak passengers. The TRE passengers sue Amtrak because... well, because they can't get any money from TRE, due to the Texas liability cap, so they're fishing around for someone to sue. Why on God's green Earth should Amtrak have to deal with that?

Oh, I understand how "personal injury" attorneys will sue anyone, but come on ...

 

[MikefromCrete]

How about explaining how a TRE passenger on a TRE train on TRE tracks involved in an accident NOT involving AMTRAK can sue AMTRAK ... that just does not compute.

The worrisome situation is where a TRE train, run by a negligent TRE engineer (who is perhaps speeding and ignoring signals), smashes into an Amtrak train. Perhaps the Amtrak engineer cleverly manages to handle his train to avoid injury to Amtrak passengers. The TRE passengers sue Amtrak because... well, because they can't get any money from TRE, due to the Texas liability cap, so they're fishing around for someone to sue. Why on God's green Earth should Amtrak have to deal with that?

Oh, I understand how "personal injury" attorneys will sue anyone, but come on ...

Such lawyers are always looking for "deep pockets" since their paychecks depend on a big settlement.

 

[AlanB]

That would be nice. The big problem as far as I can tell is the state of Texas liability cap for The T and DART (owners/operators of TRE). In case of an accident, the passengers would all sue Amtrak because Amtrak doesn't have a liability cap while The T/DART do. So, even if the accident was entirely the fault of TRE and only injured TRE passengers, Amtrak would suffer. This is obviously unacceptable to Amtrak. It's the same problem which happened in Florida.

How about explaining how a TRE passenger on a TRE train on TRE tracks involved in an accident NOT involving AMTRAK can sue AMTRAK ... that just does not compute.

The worrisome situation is where a TRE train, run by a negligent TRE engineer (who is perhaps speeding and ignoring signals), smashes into an Amtrak train. Perhaps the Amtrak engineer cleverly manages to handle his train to avoid injury to Amtrak passengers. The TRE passengers sue Amtrak because... well, because they can't get any money from TRE, due to the Texas liability cap, so they're fishing around for someone to sue. Why on God's green Earth should Amtrak have to deal with that?

I'm sorry, but that is incorrect. There is liability cap that is set by the Fed, not TRE. In California the lawyers were all stymied by the Federal liability cap in the Metrolink/UP collision a few years back. They fought hard to get the Fed to lift the cap, but failed.

The most that can be paid out under Federal law for any passenger rail accident is $200 Million, and that applies to Amtrak as well as commuter RR's.

Is it possible that TRE & DART have a lower cap? Sure. But I rather doubt it.

 

[daveyb99]

All this liability talk is just that - talk. Sure, a 'personal injury' attorney can sue anyone, and even sues "John Does" to cover for those unknown. But any judge is going to throw out non-related defendants. So you example of TRE hitting AMTRAK .. gone. AMTRAK getting sued for NOT being involved in a TRE accident .. gone. I would guess this is more about who pay for broken equipment, ie rails and such. But -

 

[Nathanael]

Is it possible that TRE & DART have a lower cap?

After researching, I believe they do. As "creatures of the state", the cap for TRE and DART defaults to $0 due to sovereign immunity, which Texas passes on to TRE and DART. Florida had to pass a law waiving sovereign immunity before Amtrak was willing to deal with their liability situation.

http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/historical/2003/apr/020177.htm

Bizarrely, Amtrak does not get the sovereign immunity waiver...

Anyway, there is a partial waiver of sovereign immunity in Texas, but it's coupled with a very tight liability limit:

http://law.onecle.com/texas/civil/101.023.00.html

 

[Nathanael]

Uh, correction. "Bizarrely, Amtrak does not appear to benefit from sovereign immunity the way the commuter rail agencies do."