In properly legalistic wording, the New York Law Journal says that lawyers are looking at the Amtrak disaster. I predict newspapers, especially the tabloids, will not be so circumspect in their language.
Lawyers Eye Details in Wake of Amtrak Derailment
P.J. D’Annunzio, The Legal Intelligencer
In the wake of the Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia that, according to public officials, resulted in the deaths of at least seven people and injured more than 200, lawsuits seem all but certain to be filed.
UPDATE 5/15/2015 AT 10:46 A.M. I usually tweet a message about each post, with a link and very occasionally respond to others’ tweets. Yesterday, in response to something about the Amtrak crash, I wrote that I blame Reagan for reducing or eliminating government support for mass transit (and invaluable public services like the Post Office).
I just picked up this from an (online?) journal called The Hill, which reports that Congress (The Hill, which in my review is fairly right-wing, does not specifically name Congressional Republicans, but it is Republicans who do control Congress and, therefore, the budget) have been “debating” funds for the device–mentioned in the news–that would have automatically reduced the speed of the train.
I strongly suggest that lawyers investigating filing claims over the disaster consider adding Congressional Republicans as defendants, and name those names.
UPDATE 5/14/2015 12:18 P.M. And I just found this John Cassidy article on the New Yorker’s daily posting site which again emphasizes how badly our government has treated mass transit and how this crash–like all the other recent ones–should be sending a wake-up call to Congress. But probably isn’t, because a whole heap of those Republican legislators who block mass transit funds don’t live in cities and don’t represent city citizenry who depend on mass transit.
As long as their rural constituents think that paradise is owning a couple of trucks and carrying guns in them, these representatives will not give a damn about this country’s deteriorating infrastructure.
UPDATE 5/15/15. On a daily basis I get on line New Yorker stories, some of which will appear in the hard copy of the magazine. Today, as if he were listening to me (or reading Sidebar), Adam Gopnick filed this story, “The Plot Against Trains,” in which he factually details the anti-train politics that have caused our railroads to so disintegrate:
This week’s horrific Amtrak derailment renewed arguments about Americans’ failure to build for the common good.
Source: The Plot Against Trains – The New Yorker
UPDATE 5/15/15. And here it is, the first lawsuit against Amtrak, as reported in the New York Law Journal:
Lawsuit Filed in Amtrak Derailment
Gina Passarella, The Legal Intelligencer
A federal lawsuit has already been filed stemming from Tuesday’s Amtrak disaster.