Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)

The Long Island Rail Road train crash in Brooklyn this week injured over 100 passengers, many with neck and back injuries as well as injured arms and legs. Governor Cuomo has described this as a “minor” crash. Scores of people may be left with debilitating conditions. Although government officials try to downplay the effects of this negligence by the Long Island Railroad, a governmental subsidiary, nevertheless neck and back injuries can result in lifelong disability, pain, surgeries and therapy with significant loss of earnings and enjoyment of life.

In our experience helping victims of serious accidents we know that neck, back and limb injuries are not always so “minor.” For example, one of our clients was in a MetroNorth train crash and had to have back surgery and has been left permanently disabled even though no bones were broken. We understand that the government would like to minimize people’s suffering with words like “minor” because ultimately the MTA and Long Island Railroad will be called upon to compensate these innocent victims.

It is important for injured people to know that any one injured in this train crash must file a claim promptly because there is a short statute of limitations for lawsuits against government agencies. And these agencies will defend themselves by seeking to minimize any payments they will have to make to victims.

It is also very important for any injured victim of this train crash to obtain legal counsel, sooner rather than later, so that his or her rights may be fully protected. The government has an interest in reducing any potential claims to avoid paying money to innocent victims. We at Tomkiel & Tomkiel have many years of experience handling injury claims for these kinds of injuries, and stand ready to help innocent injury victims obtain full, fair and just monetary compensation.