Drunk New Yorker awarded $2.3 million after being run over by train
CNN is reporting that Dustin Dibble, 25, was awarded $2.33 million in a personal injury suit for an accident that cost him his leg after he fell onto the subway tracks in front of a train.
Dibble had been drinking at a downtown New York bar in April 2006, according to CNN. His blood alcohol content was .18. While waiting for the train, he stumbled onto the tracks and his leg was severed by the coming train.
Despite the fact he was drunk, his lawyer successfully argued that the bulk of the responsibility belonged to the NYC Transit system because the train operator had actually seen Dibble on the tracks in plenty of time to stop, but failed to do so because he thought what he saw was an inanimate object. Dibble’s lawyer said that train operators should be better equipped to handle these situations.
Dibble’s drunkenness was considered a secondary cause to the accident, so his compensation was reduced from $3.5 million to $2.3 million under comparative fault laws.
Many people hearing the story of a drunken man falling on the tracks would just say he got what he deserved. A compassionate and experienced personal injury lawyer, though, can look at cases like these and discover the facts behind the headline. You do not lose all your rights simply because you’ve had a drink. Many cases are not black and white and that’s why we have comparative fault and proportional liability laws as well as personal injury attorneys to help people in these complicated cases.
