A freight conductor is suing over injuries he sustained on the job, allegedly due to a faulty rail car.
Keith Carter filed a lawsuit June 1 in Cook County Circuit Court against Norfolk Southern Railway Co., alleging negligence.
According to the complaint, on June 3, 2012, Carter was working in the defendant's Calumet Yard in Chicago as a freight conductor and was switching railroad cars. The suit says, "Carter was riding the side of the rail car when, suddenly and without warning, the sill step upon which [he] was standing swung out, which caused the plaintiff to lose his footing on the rail car, fall from the rail car, the force of which injured Carter's back, hip and neck, among other injuries."
The suit says Norfolk Southern is guilty of negligence for failing to: provide a safe place to work; improperly maintaining the rail car; allowing a rail car in operation with a broken sill step; failed to comply with industrial code; failed to comply with federal safety code; and failed to comply with the railroad's own maintenance rules.
As a result, the suit says, the plaintiff sustained injuries, pain and suffering, loss of a normal life and earning capacity, and medical expenses.
Carter seeks damages in excess of the court's jurisdictional limits, plus costs. He is represented by attorney William J. McMahon of Hoey and Farina in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 2015L005504.