If an 18 yr Old Body Hits you} Would You Sue?

An 18-year-old man who was hit and killed by a train in 2008 will be the subject of a present-day lawsuit after an appellate judge ruled that a woman injured by his flying body parts may pursue a claim against his estate.

Ruling that the man was negligent, and that the result was “reasonably foreseeable,” the judge granted the woman’s request to allow the suit to proceed.

The initial suit had been blocked by a lower court in Cook County, which said the elderly Gayane Zokhrabov may not sue the now-deceased Hiroyuki Joho because Joho could not have anticipated the potential for third-party injury posed by his actions.

Steve Schmadeke, reporter for The Chicago Tribune, noted that the decision was reversed on Thursday by an appeals court.

The vehicle was reportedly traveling over 70 miles-per-hour when it hit Joho, who was allegedly running across the track to catch another train.

Zokhrabov suffered a broken leg, broken wrist and an injured shoulder after a portion of Joho’s body was flung more than 100 feet, smacking into her on a train platform.

“If you do something as stupid as this guy did, you have to be responsible for what comes from it,” her attorney reportedly said.

It was not immediately clear what sort of “estate” the young man’s family has.

Photo: Flickr user Chuckcars.

Stephen C. Webster

Stephen C. Webster is the senior editor of Raw Story, and is based out of Austin, Texas. He previously worked as the associate editor of The Lone Star Iconoclast in Crawford, Texas, where he covered state politics and the peace movement’s resurgence at the start of the Iraq war. Webster has also contributed to publications such as True/Slant, Austin Monthly, The Dallas Business Journal, The Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Weekly, The News Connection and others. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenCWebster.