- Plaintiff
- Valdez, Juan
- Represented By:
- Halpern, Derryl (The Halpern Law Firm)
Juan Ramon Valdez v. Union Pacific
VERDICT
Trial
02/20/25 – 02/25/25
Summary
A California state court jury has cleared rail giant Union Pacific of all liability for a pedestrians leg amputation after he claims he was struck by a train while walking along railroad tracks, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The Los Angeles County jury returned their 9-3 verdict on February 25 in a trial that began on February 20. Plaintiff Juan Valdez accused operators in a Union Pacific locomotive of failing to slow down soon enough after spotting him walking along the tracks in 2018.
His attorneys claim the train could have avoided Valdez entirely by initiating a breaking maneuver sooner, but Union Pacifics attorneys successfully argued in the liability phase of the bifurcated trial that the trains operators blew the whistle soon enough for Valdez to have sought shelter in the clear outside of the trains direct path.
Outcome
Defense verdict
- Plaintiff
- Defense
- Judge
- Patrick Madden
- Jurisdiction
- Superior Court of California, Los Angeles
- Court
- Long Beach Courthouse
- Case Number
- 19STCV31520
- Industry
- Transportation
- Practice Area
- Transportation
- Expert Witnesses
- Lay Witnesses
Sessions
AM Session
Openings
11 Chapters
PM Session
Plaintiff Witness(es)
22 Chapters
PM Session
Defense Witness(es)
14 Chapters
AM Session
Plaintiff Witness(es)
18 Chapters
AM Session
Defense Witness(es)
11 Chapters
PM Session
Closings
6 Chapters
PM Session
Verdict
3 Chapters
Recording Disclaimer: This proceeding was recorded in full.