Trial Magazine

While on their way to a baseball game, Steven Wayne, 65, and Emoke Rock, 76, crossed a street while a light rail vehicle was heading into a train station. The train struck Wayne and Rock while they were in a crosswalk, killing them. Both are survived by their adult children.

Wayne’s and Rock’s estates sued the city of Seattle; King County, Washington; and Sound Transit, alleging that the warnings at the train crossing were ineffective. The plaintiffs asserted that the audible warnings were beneath the level of the traffic noise and that there had been previous collisions and near-misses on this stretch of the light rail. Suit did not claim lost income.

The parties settled for $6.5 million.

Citation: Carson v. City of Seattle, Undisclosed Dkt. No. (Wash. Super. Ct. King Cnty. Jan. 2024).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members James S. Rogers, Heather Cover, and Eric S. Nelson, all of Seattle.

Plaintiff experts: Bill Hughes, rail safety, Roanoke, Va.; Joellen Gill, human factors, Mica, Wash.; Mark Erickson, accident reconstruction, West Linn, Ore.; and Harriet Jacobster, audiology, Newburgh, N.Y.

Defense experts: John Spellman, railway signals, Fort Worth, Texas; Nathan Rose, accident reconstruction, Denver; Steven Arndt, human factors, Chicago; and Gary Thomas, traffic signals, College Station, Texas.