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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/tyrion2024 on 2025-04-12 23:00:10+00:00.
Original Title: TIL in 2006 a jury awarded $24.2m to two men who were severely burned by a 12,500-volt electrical wire when they trespassed onto railroad property and climbed atop a rail car. The two men, who were 17 at the time of the accident, argued the companies should’ve placed warning signs about the wires.
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A Yale grad who was electrocuted after drunkenly climbing on top of an Amtrak train in 2006 dropped his lawsuit against the company Monday — after a Brooklyn judge said evidence of his boozing and recklessness could be admitted at trial.
Brian Hopkins, an Ivy League-educated architect from Astoria, Queens, was shocked by 27,500 volts and suffered burns to 85 percent of his body when he climbed atop of a parked train in Boston, his federal lawsuit said.
His left hand and leg were also amputated, court papers said.
Hopkins sued in 2008, saying the risk of electrocution was foreseeable and preventable. The case was slated to begin trial Monday. (2016)
