CVN screenshot of defense attorney Jason Schaff delivering his closing argument
Long Beach, CA - A California state court jury has cleared rail giant Union Pacific of all liability for a pedestrian’s leg amputation after he claims he was struck by a train while walking along railroad tracks, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The Los Angeles County jury returned their 9-3 verdict on February 25 in a trial that began on February 20. Plaintiff Juan Valdez accused operators in a Union Pacific locomotive of failing to slow down soon enough after spotting him walking along the tracks in 2018.
His attorneys claim the train could have avoided Valdez entirely by initiating a breaking maneuver sooner, but Union Pacific’s attorneys successfully argued in the liability phase of the bifurcated trial that the train’s operators blew the whistle soon enough for Valdez to have sought shelter “in the clear” outside of the train’s direct path.
The full trial, including all expert witness testimony, was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network. Sign up for a monthly or annual CVN video library subscription and get unlimited on-demand access to this trial and hundreds more featuring many of the top plaintiff and defense attorneys in the country.
Attorney Darryl Halpern of the Halpern Law Firm, who represents Valdez, told CVN after the trial that while his team respects the jury’s verdict they are “extremely disappointed.”
“We always knew that this was going to be a difficult case,” he explained. “It was hard for the jury to get past the fact that the plaintiff put himself in a vulnerable position next to the tracks.”
While the trial focused solely on liability and didn’t get into any potential damages Valdez incurred, Halpern did tell the jury how the loss of his leg put Valdez a tailspin that resulted in living in shelters and on the streets.
In a trial steeped in railway terminology, jurors repeatedly heard about being “in the clear” - or outside a train’s danger zone - or “in the foul” on the actual railroad ties. The liability dispute largely hinged on when the train’s operators spotted Valdez, and where he was when the they began blowing the whistle. Much of the trial involved expert witnesses for each party examining the train's "black box" data and video recorder.
“We always felt that this was a case of shared responsibility and that a train running through the neighborhood must use reasonable care to avoid causing a preventable collision,” Halpern said.
A Union Pacific spokesperson told CVN after the trial that safety is the company’s top priority, and cited the safety instructions for pedestrians on their website.
Union Pacific was represented by Nicole Low and Jason Schaff of Schroeder Schaff & Low.
The trial took place before Judge Patrick Madden.
The case is captioned Juan Valdez v. Union Pacific Railroad Company, case number 19STCV31520 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com