CSX Transportation found 35% liable by a Georgia Jury and ordered to pay $3.9 million in damages for the death of Sarah Jones when a freight train slammed into film workers shooting a movie about singer Gregg Allman.

SAVANNAH, Ga. – A jury has found a railroad company responsible in the 2014 death of a movie worker on a Georgia railroad bridge, awarding the young woman's family $3.9 million in damages.



The verdict against CSX Transportation came Monday in a civil lawsuit the parents of Sarah Jones filed in the Feb. 20, 2014, crash. Jones was killed when a freight train slammed into film workers shooting a movie about singer Gregg Allman.


Attorneys for Jones' family argued CSX should have taken precautions to avoid the crash. They said two CSX trains that passed the movie crew before the collision should have reported the group.



CSX attorneys blamed filmmakers who were denied permission by CSX to shoot on its tracks. Film director Randall Miller served a year in jail for Jones' death.



=================





The parents of Sarah Jones, the camera assistant who was killed during filming of a movie in Georgia in 2014, won a significant legal victory Monday when a court awarded the family $11.2 million in damages.

Jones, 27, was fatally struck by a train that crashed into a crew filming a scene on a railway for the Gregg Allman biopic “Midnight Rider.” Several other crew members also were injured during filming of the scene on a historic trestle outside of Savannah. Authorities said producers did not have permission to film on the railway.


The accident prompted multiple state and federal investigations and galvanized the film industry, prompting calls for greater attention to safety on sets worldwide. The judgment comes at a time when set safety issues are again rattling the industry after a stuntman died during filming of the AMC television series “The Walking Dead” last week. That accident also occurred in Georgia.



Sarah Jones in an undated family photo. (Colin Duran / AP)

Attorneys for CSX, the train’s operator, had argued that they had not authorized the “Midnight Rider” filmmakers to shoot on the railway.


However, on Monday the jury found that CSX was primarily liable for the accident and should pay 35% of the total judgment.

“CSX is deeply sympathetic to the terrible loss suffered by the family of Ms. Sarah Jones, but respectfully disagrees with the conclusions reached by the jury today and will appeal,” CSX said in statement.

Jurors ruled that Jones’ parents should be given just under $2 million for pain and suffering and $9.2 million for economic losses.

“Elizabeth and I have spent the last 3 plus years wanting to understand how our daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Jones, tragically lost her life,” Richard and Elizabeth Jones said in a statement. “That search has now come to a close…. We felt that this trial was necessary in order to learn what happened that tragic day of February 20, 2014. It is only with the discovery of what could have been done differently that we might avoid another similar tragic loss of life.”

Jones’ parents agreed to a confidential settlement with the film’s producers in 2014. The film’s director, Randall Miller, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 2015. Miller was sentenced to up to two years in prison and fined $20,000.

Miller was found responsible for 28% of the amount of the latest ruling. Rayonier Performance Fibers, owners of the land where the accident occurred, are responsible for 18% and the rest of the liability is divided between individual members of the film’s production company.

Sarah Jones was not found liable for the accident.

“Midnight Rider" was based on the life of Allman, a founding member of Southern rock group the Allman Brothers Band.

Allman was originally included in the civil suit against the film’s producers but was later dropped from the case.

The singer later sued the film’s producers, alleging they had lost the rights to tell his story after Jones died. Allman subsequently dropped his suit as part of an out-of-court agreement.

Drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death among children between 1 and 4 years old. 3 children drowned in separate incidents in New Jersey over the past two weeks.

Monday, July 17, 2017 05:32PM
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Water safety is top of mind for many parents after several recent drownings in our area.

One of the victims was a North Philadelphia first grader, who died during a vacation at the Jersey Shore.

A vigil will be held on Monday night for 6-year-old Isabella Grattic. She drowned nine days ago at a pool in Wildwood.

"She was everything you want a student to be. She was kind, friendly, always had a smile and was here every day," said Principal Letisha Laws.


Sadly, Isabella is one of three children who drowned in separate incidents in New Jersey over the past two weeks.

Police also say a three-year-old is in critical condition after falling into the Schuylkill River on Saturday.


Emergency room doctor Megan Stobart-Gallagher says during the summer at Einstein Medical Center they're on high alert for drownings.

"It's always a possibility here so, when an alert goes off, we're worried that's something it could be," she said.

But she says it is preventable. A locked fence should be around all pools, and little ones need to be watched while swimming.

"Even kids fully trained in swimming lessons need to be observed. It only takes two seconds for them to bob under water and not come back up," Stobart-Gallagher said.

As for whether infant rescue programs help, she says they could be good training but are not recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"It's not a guarantee to prevent anything from happening," Stobart-Gallagher said.

Back at Mastery, Principal Laws hopes to raise awareness about swimming and water safety - and also honor Isabella.

"Let her family know we love them, here for them, support them," she said.

For more information about water safety, visit CHOP.edu




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Four-year-old girl drowns in New Jersey lake while swimming with a group of friends

Kaylin Pahulick, four, was swimming at Lake & Shore RV Resort, Ocean View, NJ
Troopers received reports of a child drowning at the campground at around 1pm.
Man who was staying at campground said rescuers tried to revive her with CPR
She was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia at around 2am




A four-year-old girl drowned while swimming with her friends in a New Jersey lake, it has been reported.

Kaylin Pahulick, of Levittown, Pennsylvania, was playing in the unguarded lake at the Lake & Shore RV Resort in Ocean View when tragedy struck.

State trooper Alejandro Goez said officers received reports of a child drowning at the campground at around 1pm on Thursday.



Kaylin Pahulick, four, drowned while swimming with her friends in a New Jersey lake




Kaylin was playing in the unguarded lake at the Lake & Shore RV Resort in Ocean View, New Jersey


She was rushed to the Cape Regional Medical Center but doctors were unable to regain her pulse.

Kaylin was pronounced dead at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia at around 2am.

Paul Brown, who was staying at the campground in his RV, said rescuers tried to revive the girl using CPR at the scene.

'I'm sick to my stomach,' said Brown, 54, who has four children and a nine-year-old grandson. 'I can't get it out of my head.'





Kaylin was rushed to the Cape Regional Medical Center but doctors were unable to regain her pulse

Holidaymakers are said to frequently swim in the RV park's lake, which is divided into bathing and fishing areas.

Campground management have referred questions to a corporate office.

The resort is owned by Chicago-based Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc. Representatives from the company did not immediately return a request for comment
 ==================
Drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death among children between 1 and 4 years old. Drowning often occurs silently when an unsupervised child is near water ― and it takes only seconds to drown.

Although most drowning incidents occur in residential swimming pools, children can drown in just 1 inch of water, such as in buckets, bath tubs, wading pools, diaper pails and toilets. In addition, hot tubs, spas and open waters, such as oceans, rivers and lakes, pose a drowning threat to older children.
Consider these facts about drowning:

• When a child is submerged for two minutes in water, he or she loses consciousness.
• Irreversible brain damage occurs after four to six minutes of water submersion.
• Most children die if they are found after 10 minutes in the water.

Tips for preventing drowning

Follow these preventive steps to help protect children from drowning:

• Never leave your child unsupervised near water at or in the home, or around any body of water, including a swimming pool
• Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and infant and child first-aid. In case of an emergency, CPR can save lives, reduce the severity of injury and improve the chance of survival
• Do not rely on personal flotation devices (PFDs) or swimming lessons to protect your child
• Install four-sided isolation fencing around swimming pools
• Make sure you have rescue equipment, such as a rescue tubes or ring buoys, and a telephone and emergency phone numbers near the swimming pool
• Do not allow children to dive in waters less than 9 feet deep
• Insist that children wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device (PFD), such as life jackets, when boating, sailing or canoeing
• Teach your children to stay away from any body of water that has become frozen during the winter. Children can drown by falling through thin ice

 ====================





A 4-year-old girl from Levittown died on Monday after she was pulled from unguarded waters at Lake & Shore RV Resort in Ocean View, Cape May County several days prior, the Press of Atlantic City reported.

The girl’s death was the second drowning of a small child down the Shore in three short days. A 6-year-old Philadelphia girl died on Saturday after she drowned in the pool at the Nantucket Inn and Suites in Wildwood, police said. The motel has posted signs around the pool that state, “No Lifeguard on Duty” and “Swim at Your Own Risk.”

“As a staff here, we’re pretty sad,” Manager Alex Sarri told the newspaper. “We do want to send our condolences to the family.”

New Jersey used to require motels to have lifeguards posted at their pools during swimming hours, but the Press of A.C. reports that law was changed more than 25 years ago following objections from owners.

The 4-year-old victim, identified by authorities as Kaylin Pahulick, was swimming with friends at a lake on the Dennis Township resort when she drowned last Thursday, New Jersey state police Trooper Alejandro Goez told the newspaper. Pahulick was transported to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for treatment, but they were ultimately unable to save her.
 
These two deaths are emblematic of not only the importance of having a lifeguard on duty, but they also serve as a reminder to parents to always keep an eye on your young children. Lifeguards are a simple failsafe, ready to spring into action in the event that a parent looks away for the one second they shouldn’t have. Maybe it’s time for New Jersey to explore the possibility of changing that law back?


What about holding the parents criminally liable for failing to supervise their kids?  You cannot always blame the businesses for the lack of proper parenting.

The dead people have no cause of action for defamation under the common law, and neither do their survivors, unless the words independently reflect upon and defame the survivors.

Can a Writer Be Sued for Libeling the Dead? (What Would John Dean Say?)

It seems that, whenever a notorious celebrity dies, tell-all biographies appear within a few months -- or even weeks -- filled with unflattering new disclosures.  One explanation for this phenomenon is (to quote Judge Robert Sack, the author of one of the two leading treatises on libel):

The dead have no cause of action for defamation under the common law, and neither do their survivors, unless the words independently reflect upon and defame the survivors. 

Rodney Smolla, the author of the other leading treatise, concurs:

There is no liability for defamation of the dead, either to the estate of the deceased or to the deceased's descendants or relatives.

The rule seems to be much the same under UK common law, as summarized in this piece from the BBC.

Furthermore, most U.S. cases have held that a plaintiff cannot make an end-run around the rule that "you can't defame the dead" simply by restyling her claim as one for invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress (upon the surviving family members), or injurious falsehood.

Even though the law is uncommonly clear on this point, that hasn't stopped an occasional outraged relative of the dearly departed from suing. For example, in1981, Charles Higham wrote a biography of Errol Flynn in which he charged that the actor had been a Nazi spy. Flynn's daughters sued for defamation and invasion of privacy -- unsuccessfully.  In upholding the dismissal of the case, a California appeals court reaffirmed that ''defamation of a deceased person does not give rise to a civil right of action at common law in favor of the surviving spouse, family or relatives who are not themselves defamed.''  A copy of the decision is available here.

At one time, the law was not so clear. See, for example, this 1931 article from Time magazine  And there are still a few disturbing wrinkles.  Judge Sack notes that several states, including Texas and Utah, have statutes that purport to define libel to include defaming the dead.  But, citing this Texas case, he concludes that, even in those jurisdictions:

successful defamation suits based on the defamation of the dead where there is no implied defamation of the living are apparently non-existent. 

Robert Spoo recently brought to my attention that there are also a few states, that continue to have antiquated criminal statutes on the books, some of which purport to prohibit defamation of both the living and the dead. In 1998, a federal court struck down one such law in Nevada as unconstitutional.

Doubtless there are abuses -- instances where writers make outrageous statements about the dead that they know to be false.  In response, a few commentators, including Raymond Iryami in "Give the Dead Their Day in Court", Lisa Brown in "Dead But Not Forgotten" (behind pay wall) and amazingly enough, John Dean, have suggested that enacting a civil remedy for disparagement of the dead might worth considering.  Indeed, the idea is not as far-fetched as I, for one, might wish it were.  Remarkably, in 1986, the New York State Senate passed such a bill, but it died a merciful death without being voted upon in the Assembly.  My own view is that such a law would be a staggering blow to biographers, historians, and journalists.

So what might writers take away from all this?

1.  The risks of a judgment being ultimately entered against a writer in the United States for libeling the dead are very close to zero.

2.  The risks of being sued for libeling the dead (or on some end-run cause of action) are very low, but not zero.  A defendant writer should ultimately win, but she might have to incur attorneys' fees in doing so.

3.  If you're writing unflatteringly about the dead in a work that will undergo a legal review by a book or magazine publisher, there is especially little to sweat.  The legal reviewer will presumably help you further minimize any risks and, if there were ever a suit, the publisher's lawyers would have the tools available to wage an exceedingly strong defense.

4.  As a practical matter, the deader the dead, the more improbable it is that there would ever be even a nuisance claim.  The few claims that have been brought tend to be by family members of the recently deceased (e.g., where the family contests a published report that a death was a suicide).

5.  As the quotation above from Judge Sack's book implies, there can be liability when a defamatory statement about the dead also reflects negatively on the living.  Take this statement:  "Before the cold-blooded killer, Fowler, was shot dead while fleeing from the police, he hid out for three days in his brother's apartment" (implying that the brother was an aider and abettor).

6. Truth, of course, is the ultimate defense to a libel claim.  So make sure you have your facts straight, whether you are writing about the living or the dead.  That said, there are times when fiction writers may artfully -- and lawfully -- "lie" about deceased historical figures that they have inserted into their novels or short stories.  (See this earlier post on libel in fiction and this cautionary post by a Writer's Digest blogger.) And that's just one of the reasons a "libeling-the-dead" statute is very bad idea.

Lincoln YMCA employee Kyle Andrews, 48, died from thermal burns a few days after an early morning fire destroyed the a MacColl YMCA shed that stored lawnmowers and gardening equipment in Lincoln, RI

LINCOLN, RI (WPRI) — Burns from an April fire that destroyed a MacColl YMCA storage shed caused the death of a Lincoln man who worked for the organization, the state medical examiner has determined.

Kyle Andrews, 48, died at Rhode Island Hospital April 20, a few days after an early morning blaze destroyed the two-care garage sized shed that stored lawnmowers and gardening equipment.

Department of Health spokesperson Joseph Wendelken said the medical examiner ruled last month that “thermal burns” due to a garage fire was the cause of death.

The fire started at about 3:40 a.m. on April 17 at the one-story structure on Breakneck Hill Road.

The cause of the fire is stated as “undetermined” according to Deputy State Fire Marshal John Dean who said the fire appeared to start near the entrance of the building and could’ve had something to do with the equipment that was stored inside.

“We can’t say it’s accidental and can’t say it’s not accidental,” Dean said, adding that the cause did not appear to be electrical. “So, the cause is undetermined.”

In the days after the fire, Lincoln police detectives interviewed YMCA employees, including Andrews who was contacted at his home.

After Andrews was found with burns, an ambulance was called to bring him to the hospital.

Lincoln Police Chief Brian Sullivan and Dean said investigators never had a chance to interview Andrews, who died the next day.

Dean said an interview with Andrews might’ve helped determine the exact cause of the fire that killed him, but he was the only one at the scene when the fire started. Dean said investigators could not track down any other witnesses.


This fire looks suspicious.  It started in the early a.m. hours and this guy was there, he got burned, and he never reported his burns.  He was most likely stealing the equipment and the fuel - and he got burned.  Sorry, buddy, at least you now met your Creator in person.
=====================



LINCOLN, RI (WPRI) — The Rhode Island Fire Marshal is looking into a fire that investigators said caused burns to a YMCA employee, who died three days later.

Kyle Andrews, 48, of Lincoln, died at Rhode Island Hospital last Thursday, Lincoln police said.

The state Medical Examiner’s office is investigating that part of the case, according to Department of Health spokesperson Joseph Wendelken.

“The cause of death is still pending,” Wendelken said.

The fire started at about 3:40 a.m. last Monday in a storage shed at the MacColl YMCA on Breakneck Hill Road. Police logs indicated the flames were under control about a half-hour later. The shed was about the size of a two-car garage and stored lawnmowers and other equipment used to take care of the facility’s fields.

Investigators from the Fire Marshal’s office were at the scene a short time after the fire was under control. Deputy State Fire Marshal John Dean said the burn injuries were apparently connected to the blaze, but he could not offer any details about the cause of the fire.

“This remains under investigation,” he said.

The burns on Andrews were not discovered by police until Wednesday, when logs show police were called to a home on Cecile Street.

“A man has burns,” a Lincoln police detective reported to a dispatcher, according to the logs.

Police Chief Brian Sullivan said Andrews’ burns were serious enough that it was determined he needed to go to the hospital. Sullivan said Andrews died before he was able to give investigators a statement.

“We haven’t ruled anything out,” Sullivan said.



==================






LINCOLN, R.I. — The police have a mystery on their hands that would be worthy of a TV drama.

After a suspicious fire destroyed a maintenance shed at the MacColl YMCA, detectives went to the homes of several Y employees to interview them about the blaze.

At the home of one worker, they noticed what looked like burn injuries so severe that they called for a rescue, which took the man to Rhode Island Hospital.

The next day, detectives learned that the man — Kyle Andrews, 48 — had died.

“We are not tying Mr. Andrews’ death to a fire in Lincoln,” Capt. Philip Gould told The Providence Journal on Tuesday. “We don’t have anything to tie one thing to the other.” Gould also stressed that investigators don’t know where Andrews suffered his injuries.

This much is known, according to Gould:

Firefighters, police detectives and the state fire marshal went to a fire at 3:40 a.m. on Monday, April 17, at the McColl YMCA, on Route 123. The maintenance shed, which housed lawnmowers and similar equipment, was fully engulfed, and will probably need to be torn down.

No one was found at the scene of the fire.

Two days later, on Wednesday the 19th, detectives went to interview Andrews at his home, when they observed the injuries and sent him to the hospital. They never had a chance to interview him about the fire before learning he had died.


Gould said that the cause of the fire is under investigation by Lincoln detectives and the state fire marshal. The medical examiner is investigating the cause of Andrews’ death.

And, Gould said, one other thing is certain:

A man with close ties to the community has died, and “The YMCA family is grieving.”

We do not grieve him.  He was stealing the gasoline in the early am hours and he got burned.  Crime & punishment.  He will now explain this when he meets his Creator.

HFD: the Marco Polo high-rise deadly 5-alarm fire originated in unit 2602 on the mauka side of the building

Britt Reller, 54, a gay in-flight manager for Hawaiian Airlines, and his mother, Jean Dilley, 87, were two of three victims in the fire.

Joann Kuwata, 71, a retired dental assistant, lived in unit 2615, on the makai side of the building and near unit 2602

Britt Reller, 54, a very gay in-flight manager for Hawaiian Airlines, and his mother, Jean Dilley, 87, were two of three victims in the fire

Britt Reller, 54, a very gay in-flight manager for Hawaiian Airlines, and his mother, Jean Dilley, 87, were two of three victims in the fire

Unit 2602 prior to the fire

Unit 2602 prior to the fire

Unit 2602 prior to the fire

Unit 2602 prior to the fire

The high-rise on Saturday, July 15, 2017 after the fire

The Marco Polo fatal high-rise fire did not begin in the condominium units of the three people who died in the Friday five-alarm blaze, Honolulu fire investigators have determined.

Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. David Jenkins said today that the fire originated in unit 2602 on the mauka side of the building. The cause of the fire and the exact location of where the blaze started within the unit are still under investigation.


Britt Reller, 54, a gay in-flight manager for Hawaiian Airlines, and his mother, Jean Dilley, 87, were two of three victims in the fire. Both resided in unit 2613, on the makai side of the building and “nearby, across the hall” from unit 2602, Jenkins said.

Pearl City Community Church pastor Phil Reller has said he received a call Friday from Hawaiian Airlines, that smoke was filling his younger brother’s condominium and that he had crawled under the bed. He did not hear from his brother again.

Their mother lived with Britt in the Marco Polo unit.

The third fire victim, Joann Kuwata, 71, a retired dental assistant, lived in unit 2615, on the makai side of the building and near unit 2602, according to Jenkins.

Marco Polo, a 36-story building at 2333 Kapiolani Blvd. was built in 1971, four years before installation of fire-sprinkler systems were mandated in high-rises on Oahu.

How in the world you can have such old high-rise building with no sprinkler system?  And charging people with huge purchase costs for ill-protected apartments!  With old equipment, and old tenants living there, fires will start and it will be a disaster in the making.   Well, it just happened.


PS: 
Mauka and makai are very frequently used in giving directions rather than right or left, because the main roads run along the coast line.

– Mauka (mow-kah) means on the mountain side of the road in the context of directions.
– Makai (mah-kigh) means on the ocean side of the road in the context of directions.


==================

Gay Man, Britt Reller, Killed in Honolulu High-Rise Fire Remembered as Caring Professional

by Phil Helsel and Erin Calabrese


Two of the three people killed in a five-alarm blaze at a Honolulu high-rise on Friday were an airline in-flight manager who was remembered as a caring professional and his mother.

The blaze at the Marco Polo condominium building near Waikiki might have been contained had the building had a fire sprinkler system, officials said. When it was built, sprinklers were not required, officials said.

The Association of Flight Attendants said Britt Reller and his mother Melba Jeannine Dilley, as well as their family dog, lost their lives in the blaze. The association said Reller had worked in a management role with several airlines, most recently Hawaiian, and referred many flight attendants for help instead of discipline.





 

Honolulu Fire: At Least Three Killed in High-Fire Blaze

"Today Flight Attendants are remembering his electric personality and infectious smile," the association said in a statement. "He was consistent throughout his career of inflight management at Northwest, US Airways/American and Hawaiian. We offer our thoughts and prayers to his family and all who knew him." The union said he had a positive effect on many lives in aviation.

The third victim has not been identified by authorities. All the victims were found on the 26th floor, the floor where the fire broke out, NBC affiliate KHNL of Honolulu reported. The cause and origin of the fire is under investigation. A Honolulu fire spokesman did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Britt Reller, bottom center, died in the fire at Marco Polo condominium building in Hawaii, a spokesperson from the Association of Flight Attendants said. Remembering Britt Reller / Facebook

Reller had worked as an in-flight manager for Hawaiian Airlines for two years, The Associated Press reported.

Robin Sparling, vice president of in-flight services at the airline, said in an email to the AP that Reller "was a talented manager and caring co-worker and we will miss him terribly. Our hearts are with Britt's brother, Phil, and his entire family."

The fire broke out at the 36-story building at around 2:17 p.m. local time (8:17 p.m. ET) Friday and swelled to five alarms. The fire spread to the 27th and 28th floors, and some residents were told to shelter in place until emergency crews could reach them and escort them to safety, Honolulu Fire Capt. David Jenkins said.

More than 100 firefighters responded to the fire, and emergency crews guided dozens of residents down stairwells to safety, Jenkins said. Four people were transported to area hospitals in serious condition, including a firefighter, he said. The firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion and was released, Jenkins said. Early Saturday some residents of the building, which was completed in 1971 and has 568 residential units, were allowed to return