This is a really weird civil case out of Chicago involving a man who was killed by train, and whether or not his estate can be held liable for injuries caused by his flying body parts. Yes, you read that correctly: Death of man struck by train leads to 'bizarre' civil case.18-year-old Hiroyuki Joho was struck and killed by a train while crossing Edgebrook Metra station tracks. A large portion of his body was thrown toward the platform, knocking over a 58-year-old woman who suffered injuries, including a broken leg and wrist. She, in turn, sued Joho's estate:
A Cook County judge dismissed Zokhrabov's lawsuit against Joho's estate, finding that Joho could not have anticipated Zokhrabov's injuries.I'm not an attorney, but this is ridiculous. Let this be a lesson: don't get hit by a speeding train, because you never know where your body parts might go flying. You know, in addition to the whole death thing.
A state appeals court, after noting that the case law involving "flying bodies" is sparse, has disagreed, ruling that "it was reasonably foreseeable" that the high-speed train would kill Joho and fling his body down the tracks toward a platform where people were waiting.
Leslie Rosen, who handled Zokhrabov's appeal, said that while the circumstances of the case were "very peculiar and gory and creepy," it ultimately was a straightforward negligence case, no different than if a train passenger had been injured after the engineer hit the brakes.
"If you do something as stupid as this guy did, you have to be responsible for what comes from it," she said.