CSX ordered to pay $3.9 Million to film worker

[spuwho]

This ruling is a bit odd in common sense terms.  A film crew illegally sets up a shoot on private railroad property, a train comes, kills some of the crew and CSX is held partially liable.

Per Trains News Wire:

CSX ordered to pay $3.9 million to family of film worker killed in 2014

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2017/07/18-csx-to-pay-$39-million-to-family-of-film-worker-killed-in-2014

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A Georgia jury says that CSX Transportation is partially to blame in the death of Sarah Jones, a 27-year-old camera assistant who was killed by a train while trespassing on a railroad bridge in Georgia, the Associated Press reports.

Jones was part of a film crew who was on its first day of shooting Gregg Allman's biographical "Midnight Rider" In Georgia in February 2014. The crew had set up a bed and other props on an active railroad bridge near Jesup, Ga., when a CSX train approached the trestle. All film crew members escaped except for Jones.

A jury in civil trial determined that the railroad shared blame in Jones' death because two trains that had previously passed through the area failed to inform the train dispatchers of the film crew's presence.

According to Jones' parents testimony, CSX also has a policy in place where train crews are expected to report trespassers on or near the right-of-way. According to an attorney representing Jones' family, the train did not go into emergency until after it had struck a hospital bed the filmmakers had staged across the tracks.

CSX Transportation officials say they disagree with the jury's conclusion.

"CSX is deeply sympathetic to the terrible loss suffered by the family of Ms. Sarah Jones, but respectfully disagrees with the conclusions reached by the jury today," said CSX spokesperson Rob Doolittle in a prepared statement on Monday.

Attorneys representing the railroad say they had been sent two emails to production managers denying them permission to record on the railroad bridge.

According to the AP story, three of Jones' colleagues testified that managers never informed them they were trespassing on railroad property.

Randall Miller, the film's director, ended up serving a year in jail after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing.

Jones' family had also sued the film's production manager and several other defendants. All of them settled except for CSX.

The jury concluded that Jones' life was valued at $11.2 million. CSX, the only defendant on trial, is responsible for 35 percent of that determination and will be required to pay $3.9 million.