88-year old woman sues Amtrak for not helping her off of train

NEW ORLEANS - An 88-year old woman has filed a lawsuit against Amtrak claiming that she was injured when an employee would not help her off a train.

Katherine White filed suit against The National Railroad Passenger Corp. d/b/a Amtrak on Aug. 7 in Orleans Parish District Court. The defendant removed the case to federal court in New Orleans on Aug. 21.

White states she was injured on Dec. 9, 2012 when she was disembarking from a train at the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. According to the lawsuit, she was unable to descend the last step of the train because it was too high from the platform, so a stool was placed on the platform by an Amtrak employee. White requested that an employee help her down because there was no handrail, but the employee told her that the stool was safe and that she should step on it. She did and immediately fell.

The defendant is accused of negligence for failing to exercise reasonable care to protect its passengers from injury, failure to train its personnel on proper procedure, and for failure of its employee/conductor to assist petitioners as she disembarked.

The plaintiff is seeking an award of damages for medical expenses, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, disability, interest, and court costs.

White is represented by New Orleans attorney John L. Young.

U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo is assigned to the case.

Case No. 2:13-cv-05514