Lawsuits filed in train derailment at Louisville zoo

A train derailment accident last week at the Louisville Zoo has led to the filing of a lawsuit by several families who were aboard the train when the derailment happened.  The train was going through a gorilla exhibit at the zoo when it tipped over, resulting in injuries to several passengers aboard the train that required hospital care.

The lawsuit alleges that the zoo was negligent in failing to properly maintain the train tracks and that the train operator was operating the train at an excessive speed.

One interesting point from reading the news story is that the accident is being investigated by the state agency that regulates amusement park rides and not the Federal Railroad Administration.  Also, the train operator was only 18 years old.  This all indicates that the train ride was more in the nature of an amusement park ride rather than a true train.  If that is the case, depending on the adequacy of the zoo's insurance coverage, lawyers handling the case would want to start looking at the potential liability of the designer and installer of the train ride, since it appears that defects in the design of the ride played a role in causing the train to derail and tip over.