The Michigan Court of Appeals reinstated a lawsuit against a railroad, 10 years after a teen listening to music was struck by a train and severely injured in suburban Detroit.
The court said a judge misinterpreted a case from 1899 and made other incorrect conclusions while ruling in favor of Grand Trunk Western Railroad.
Jacob Marion, who was 14 at the time, was struck by a train as he walked down tracks while wearing headphones in Wyandotte in 2012.
The conductor and engineer saw the boy and sounded a horn, but the train’s emergency brake wasn’t activated in time to avoid the collision, according to the appeals court’s summary of the event.
Judge Annette Berry applied a case from the 19th century, in which a deaf person was struck by a railroad hand car, and said train operators tried to alert Jacob but he didn’t respond.
But the appeals court, among other things, said tort law has come a long way since 1899. The lawsuit now will return to Wayne County court.
“A reasonable jury could conclude that defendants had Jacob in plain sight and recognized his peril for a period of time sufficient to react so as not to strike him,” Judge Elizabeth Gleicher wrote last week.
Topics Legislation Michigan
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
After Complaint, GEICO Agrees to Modify Cancellation Process That Uses AI 
Acrisure to Cut 2,250 Employees, Citing Advances in Technology and AI 
NC Jury Award for Workers Injured in Wall Collapse May be Largest in State History 
WTW Sues Former Yacht Team, Howden US Over Defection 
