Wise Carter attorneys, George H. Ritter and Charles E. Cowan successfully defended the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) and Norfolk Southern subsidiary Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against them in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

In a 27 page opinion and order, District Judge Taylor B. McNeel found a fatal accident involving a pedestrian in Hattiesburg, Mississippi was unavoidable and Amtrak’s locomotive engineer was not negligent in his operation of the train. Judge McNeel also found that Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company took reasonable measures to warn pedestrians of the dangers of passing trains.

Judge McNeel held there was no issue of fact for a jury to conclude the railroad companies were negligent or proximately caused the accident. The Court’s order dismissed all the plaintiff’s claims against Wise Carter’s clients.

Wise Carter is one of Mississippi’s leading law firms with a legacy of providing legal expertise for railroads operating in Mississippi for well over a century. Wise Carter has offices located in Jackson, Hattiesburg, Gulfport, in Mississippi, and recently opened an office in Detroit, Michigan. For more information on the firm, please visit www.wisecarter.com.