Mass Transit (Airline, Cruise Ship, Train, Bus)

• Federal Regulatory Agencies-Are They Too Cozy with Big Business? CPSC Chairs Accepted Travel Monies From Manufacturers

  Rick Shapiro | November 04, 2007 9:48 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  According to published reports of the Washington Post, the chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been flying around the country to various events, all paid for by toy, appliance and children's furniture industries that they are supposed to be regulating! Many trips were covered by lobbying groups and lawyers representing these manufacturers.The trips were taken by Nancy Nord or...

• Norfolk Southern Issues "Injured at Work" Brochure Pressing Workers Not To Retain Lawyers

  Rick Shapiro | October 28, 2007 8:05 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  In the recent past, several insurance companies have issued controversial guides about what to do if you are in a car accident--the controversy arises from the not so subtle message NOT to retain an attorney. Actually, several lawsuits forced insurers to change or alter their materials. Now, Norfolk Southern, which is subject to claims falling under the Federal Employers' Liability Act...

• New Legislation Enacted Preserves State Injury and Death Actions--Congress Clarifies That Federal Rail Safety Act Does Not Preempt State Law Suits

  Rick Shapiro | August 10, 2007 6:21 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  I ended my 2006 article predicting: "pretty soon, even conservative federal legislators will recognize that the railroad preemption card has eroded, not promoted, railroad safety and the pendulum will swing back." Little did I know that approximately one year later Congress would act, and President Bush would sign, the new legislation, 49 U.S. Code Sec 20106, which clarifies that the Federal...

• Radiation and Radioactive Exposures May Have Impacted Railroad Workers

  Rick Shapiro | June 01, 2007 11:50 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  Our law firm, Hajek, Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis, and Appleton, has a special concentration in railroad injury matters, as well as all forms of personal injury. We have recently been retained on cases involving railroad workers who have developed cancer and other radiation related illness and disease as a result of exposure to radiation and radioactive substances while working for railroads that...

• All Railroad Employees Should Be Aware Of The Developing Area of "Cumulative Trauma" Injuries

  Rick Shapiro | April 27, 2007 4:54 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  A growing number of locomotive engineers have successfully pursued FELA claims against their employers based upon excessive vibrations found in locomotives. These claims are related to various long term maintenance issues (i.e. poorly maintained track, altered or poorly maintained locomotive seats, etc.). While transportation employees may be subject to locomotive cab vibration, they also face...

• Transport of Nuclear Power Plant Waste By Railroad Still A Thorny Issue

  Rick Shapiro | April 16, 2007 9:30 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  We still have many nuclear power plants around the United States that are generating nuclear waste, nearly all in the form of spent nuclear fuel rods. Also, the United States has a continuing problem with where to store the low-level nuclear waste in the form of these spent fuel rods. The problem has been for decades that no state in our United States wants to accept the waste from the nuclear...

• KCS Railroad Pays 37.5 Million Dollars for Crossing Injuries and Death

  Rick Shapiro | January 20, 2007 5:01 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  An amazing story of a railroad's careless conduct and the intense and lifelong consequences of such carelessness arose out of a recent 37.5 Million Dollar settlement that Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCS) paid in October, 2006. I personally spoke with Tom Jones, one of the several trial lawyers with Davis, Bethune and Jones, who represented the entire family that was tragically injured...

• When Railroads Take Police & Legislators on Train Ride, Is It Really About Safety, Or About Their Liability?

  Rick Shapiro | September 08, 2006 8:22 AM | 1 CommentVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  There was a recent article in the local newspaper concerning Norfolk Southern Railway Company conducting a special train ride carrying one hundred people in two passenger cars behind a locomotive, to help these people understand rail safety and the dangers of railroad crossings. However, Norfolk Southern Railway Company and "Operation Lifesaver", a non-profit group, have been accused of trying...

• How the Federal Rail Safety Act is Weakening Railroad Safety Nationwide

  Rick Shapiro | June 27, 2006 8:55 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  The Federal Rail Safety Act (FRSA) was enacted by Congress in the 1970's to improve nationwide railroad safety, and to make sure uniform laws applied to essential railroad safety for trains travelling through multiple states. The idea was that individual states could not enact a hodge podge of different safety rules on basic transport of freight or as to how the railroad track was to be...

• More Railroad Crossing Wrecks And Stop Signs Not Helping

  Rick Shapiro | June 26, 2006 8:23 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  Per the Federal Railroad Administration's Web site, there have been 10 reported accidents involving trains and motor vehicles at public and private crossings in Virginia through the first three months of 2006, assuming that the statistics are correct. There have been more since March 2006 in Virginia. As rural development and new roadways cross railroad tracks, inevitably there are increased...