Riverside Railroad Accidents Lawyers at The Accident Network Law Group

The Inland Empire sits on some of the busiest rail corridors in the nation. Freight trains move through Riverside and San Bernardino around the clock, Metrolink carries commuters across five counties, and Amtrak passes through on intercity routes. Where that much rail traffic crosses streets, sidewalks, and station platforms, people get hurt, and the legal claims that follow are unlike any other injury case.

The Accident Network Law Group brings more than 25 years of Southern California injury practice to train and crossing accident claims. Attorney Damoun A. Yazdi, whose background spans over 12 years of injury litigation and a clerkship at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, personally directs these cases from our Riverside and Costa Mesa area offices.

Deadlines in rail cases are treacherous. A lawsuit generally must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, but claims involving public rail agencies can require action within six months. Contact us for a free evaluation before any of those clocks run. Se habla espanol.

Grade Crossing Collisions and the Agencies That Regulate Them

Most rail injuries in Southern California happen where tracks meet roads. Vehicle Code Section 22451 requires drivers and pedestrians to stop at least 15 feet from the nearest rail when signals warn of an approaching train, and it prohibits driving through, around, or under a closed crossing gate.

But a violation by the victim is not the end of the analysis. Crossing cases frequently turn on whether the warning equipment worked, whether vegetation or parked railcars blocked the sightlines, and whether the crossing design itself was adequate for the traffic it carried. The California Public Utilities Commission holds exclusive jurisdiction over rail crossing safety in the state, reviews crossing configurations after serious incidents, and maintains records that can prove a crossing was a known hazard.

Responsible parties in a crossing case may include the freight railroad that owns the track, the entity that maintained the signals, and the public agency responsible for the intersecting road.

Hurt as a Train Passenger: The Utmost Care Standard

Riders injured in a derailment, a hard stop, a platform gap, or a station fall benefit from one of the strongest standards in California law. Under Civil Code Section 2100, a carrier of persons for reward must use the utmost care and diligence for passengers’ safe carriage. A commuter railroad is held to more than ordinary caution; it must do everything reasonably necessary to deliver you safely.

There is a procedural catch. Metrolink is operated by the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, a joint powers agency of five county transportation commissions, which makes it a public entity. Claims against it, like claims against other government bodies, must be presented in writing within six months of the injury under Government Code Section 911.2 before any lawsuit can proceed. Missing that step can end an otherwise strong case.

What About Railroad Workers? FELA in Brief

Injured rail employees are covered by a federal statute, the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, rather than California workers’ compensation. FELA applies only to railroad workers, requires proof that employer negligence played a part in the injury, and in exchange permits recovery of full damages, including pain and suffering, that workers’ compensation never pays. Passengers, motorists, and bystanders hurt by trains are not covered by FELA; their claims proceed under California negligence law as described on this page.

The Injuries Trains Leave Behind

A locomotive outweighs an automobile by hundreds of tons, and the physics show in the injuries: traumatic amputations, crush trauma to the chest and abdomen, severe head and spinal cord damage, and burns from fuel or electrical systems. Survivors of crossing strikes and derailments also commonly carry lasting psychological injuries, and many rail cases are brought by families pursuing wrongful death claims after losing someone at a crossing.

Compensation When a Train Accident Upends Your Life

A rail injury claim seeks the full measure of what the collision took: every dollar of hospital, surgical, and rehabilitation care, the future treatment a life-care planner projects, wages already lost and the earning capacity a permanent disability erases, and the destroyed vehicle at a crossing strike.

It also demands recognition of the losses that never appear on an invoice: amputation and disfigurement, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress, and the erosion of an ordinary daily life. Compensatory damages in California injury suits are uncapped; the evidence, not a statutory schedule, determines the number. In the rare case where a defendant’s conduct amounts to malice, oppression, or fraud, Civil Code Section 3294 authorizes punitive damages on top.

Acting Quickly: Evidence and Deadlines in Rail Cases

Railroads investigate their own accidents within hours, with claims agents and lawyers often at the scene the same day. Balancing that head start requires immediate work on the victim’s side:

• Locomotive event recorder data showing speed, braking, and horn use must be demanded before retention periods lapse
• Signal maintenance logs and crossing inspection records can establish a malfunction or a known defect
• Onboard and station camera footage is overwritten on short cycles
• CPUC and Federal Railroad Administration incident filings should be obtained and compared against the railroad’s account
• Medical care should begin at once and continue without gaps, both for your health and for the record it creates

Layered over the evidence race are the filing rules discussed above: six months for claims against Metrolink or a public road authority, and two years for suits against private railroads. We calendar and protect every applicable deadline the day we take a rail case.

Railroads Defend These Cases Hard

Rail carriers and their insurers rarely concede fault. The standard defense casts the victim as a trespasser or a gate-runner, disputes the severity of injuries, and buries claimants in procedure. Early settlement feelers, when they come, are priced long before the true cost of a catastrophic injury is known, and signing one ends the claim forever.

Damoun Yazdi built his skills on both sides of the system, first as a paralegal preparing injury claims and later inside the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office as a law clerk. Our firm answers the railroad’s investigators with our own experts, takes over all contact with claims agents, and prepares every rail case as if it will be decided by a jury, because that preparation is what produces fair offers.

Why Injured Riders and Drivers Choose Our Firm

Attorney Yazdi has spent his career representing personal injury clients across Riverside, Orange, and San Bernardino counties, the same counties Metrolink’s busiest lines and the region’s freight corridors run through. That local grounding matters when your case depends on a specific crossing, a specific station, or a specific court.

Clients deal with their attorney, not a call center. Our staff serves Spanish speakers, our team can be reached at any hour of any day, and we advance every litigation cost under a contingency agreement, so nothing comes out of your pocket while your case is pending.

If a train, a crossing, or a rail platform injury has upended your life or taken a family member, request your free consultation now, while the evidence and the deadlines can still be protected.