Metra sued after employee injured

A Metra employee is suing over claims he sustained injuries while working on a rail car.

Hugo Ramirez Navarro filed a lawsuit Dec. 17 in the Cook County Circuit Court against Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corp., doing business as Metra.

According to the complaint, Navarro was working as a welder on a rail car on Feb. 15 when another car approached, causing a crash in which he was injured.

Navarro claims the crash was a result of a co-worker's premature removal of the blue flag sign, which serves to forbid other cars to come near a car where employees are working.

Metra is accused of failing to provide Navarro with a safe place to work, failure to have a job briefing and failure to warn employees of the sign removal.

He is seeking more than $50,000 in damages and is being represented in the case by attorney Richard A. Haydu of Hoey & Farina.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2013L014180.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.