SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A jury on Friday awarded $28.6 million to a man who lost his legs when hit by an Amtrak train while laying on railroad tracks in Marysville, Calif, in 2016, finding varying degrees of negligence by Amtrak, a hospital, and a doctor who released him before the accident, as well as the man himself.
The Sacramento Bee reports the amount 34-year-old Joseph Nevis will receive as a result of the Christmas Eve incident remains to be determined because of calculations including medical malpractice limits and varying findings on responsibility, but he is expected to receive millions of dollars.
The trial that began earlier this month was over events that began when Yuba City, Calif., police found Nevis on a sidewalk, determined he was too drunk to take to jail, and instead took him to Rideout Memorial Hospital in Marysville [see “Man seeks $32 million from Amtrak, hospital, doctor …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 7, 2022].
There, Dr. Hector Lopez determined he was medically stable and could be released. About an hour after Nevis left without his discharge papers, he ended up on the nearby railroad tracks, where his legs were amputated by the Coast Starlight, which continued on, its crew unaware what had happened.
The jurors found Lopez and Rideout were each 30% negligent, that Amtrak was 5% negligent, and that Nevis was 35% responsible, which means that percentage, or approximately $10 million, may be deducted from the verdict. U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd held off on entering specific damage amounts on the court record until lawyers can study the verdict and try to agree on the proper total.
Lawyers for the defendants declined comment.
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