Suicide by Train and Financial Damages

This question occurred to me as I was typing my response to this thread, about the horrible train derailment in California.

If a person intentionally parks his car on the train tracks so that the train will kill him, is he and/or his estate liable for monetary damages that occur as a result of the collision?

(For the sake of simplicity, let’s begin by assuming that no one was physically injured or killed in the collision, except maybe the suicidal person himself. Let’s also assume that we know that it was definitely suicide, and not some horrible mistake.)

I’d think that any suicide by train would result in significant quantifiable financial losses for a number of parties. There will likely be damages to the train itself and to the tracks, crossings, etc. The train company will also incur expenses for inspections, legal fees, paperwork, etc. If it’s a freight train, goods might be damaged and companies would incur expenses because their shipments were delayed. Properties surrounding the site of the collision but outside of the track corridor might end be damaged. Area businesses might have to shut down temporarily, or as in the California case, take on the expenses of helping with the rescue and cleanup. And so on.

So, assuming the guy who parked his car on the tracks does have a positive net worth, could the various parties reasonably sue him/his estate to recover their losses? Would they? Have they ever?

Does it matter whether he survived the suicide attempt or not?

My scenario here assumes that someone parks his car on the tracks. Does anything change if he throws himself in front of the moving train instead? If Snidely Whiplash actually succeeded in his evil plots, could they get him on civil as well as criminal charges?*

  • Yes yes. I know the laws are different in Canada. It was a lame attempt at humor, okay?

I don’t know about California, but just as a data point in Japan it’s standard policy for the train companies (they’re pretty much all private) to bill the families of suicides for compensation for delays and damages. The amounts are calculated based on where and when the jinshin jikou (human accident) took place, and how many people it was estimated to have held up and for how long. Despite the euphamism ‘human accident’, they don’t bill the families of people whose deaths were actual accidents. I’m not sure how this incident would fit in, but they’d probably be going after him.

These measures were ostensibly to discourage people from using the trains to off themselves. I don’t know how well it works, but ‘human accidents’ are still a pretty routine occurrence.

I don’t know the law specific to California, but it’s very likely that the idjit that parked his vehicle on the track will be financially liable for all of the damages and deaths that he caused.

His insurance company may argue that it was an “intentional act” and not covered by the policy. Juries in the midwest have typically found that although he intended to park on the track, he didn’t intend for the train to derail so the insurer is still on the hook.

If he has little or no insurance, he would then become personally liable. Unfortunately, he is likely to not have enough insurance and/or assets to even coming close to the value of the loss of life and property in this accident.

Sad. Very sad, indeed.

Also imagine being the engineer of a train that hits a pedestrian (either a suicide or an accident). It’s quite traumatic, and some of them don’t return to work.

I would imagine that the man accused of causing the accident had only one asset of any type to his name, the Jeep Cherokee that he left on the tracks.

A 26-year old man with a history of drug abuse and psychiatric problems likely doesn’t have much to offer.

I imagine that some people will be trying to sue the transit authority or even the Union Pacific Railroad.

But that will be years down the road as the criminal case will take precedence.

My dear old granddaddy, a locomotive engineer told me (Assuming a loaded train is behind you) anything you see on the tracks you will hit.

I recall that some ‘Peace Protesters’ up in the Northwest (US) blocked a train loaded with nukes. At least one survived having lost his legs. The engineer sued the guy (and won I think) for the massive emotional trauma caused by the incident.

That incident took place in the San Francisco Bay Area IIRC. Possibly around Vallejo or Mare Island.

Brian Willson, Concord Naval Weapons Station, 1987… It seems it was not a nuclear weapons protest. His group wanted to stop all weapons going to Central America.

I only remembered the guys name, for obvious reasons… Google for lots of info. They claim the train was going over the speed limit.

A Similar case happened recently in England. The scuttlebutt I heard was that the guys automobile insurance company was gonna get hit for a multi million pound claim. People i heard talking about it were expecting premiums to go up across the board because of this guys suicide attempt derailing a train and killing 7(including himself).
bbc link

I can find no confirmation about the insurance claim or lack thereof though.