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Court reinstates lawsuit against Metro-North by family of Darien man killed by train

HARTFORD—The state Supreme Court has overruled a lower court ruling and reinstated a lawsuit against Metro-North Railroad by the family of a Darien man who was killed in 2013 when he fell in front of a train.

While a lower court had ruled the railroad is immune from negligence operation lawsuits by federal regulation, the appeals court said the federal regulation did not cover the claim in this case.

“Nothing in that regulation covers the subject of the plaintiff’s claim — namely, whether it is negligent to operate a through train on a track

Joel Faxon, who had brought the lawsuit on behalf of the family of Kevin Murphy, said the family was pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision.

“The result is really common sense,” he said. “A high-speed train should not be allowed near a platform filled with passengers and we look forward our case against Metro-North.

A spokesman for Metro-North declined comment on the ruling.

On March 4, 2013, the 44-year-old Murphy had just returned from a week’s vacation in the Caribbean with his wife and five children.

That Monday morning, Murphy got up early and drove to the Noroton Heights station.

It was cold and dark out, according to the weather report, when he stood out on the platform at 6 a.m., a brown coat over his blue suit, his monogrammed leather briefcase filled with papers in his right hand.

Ten minutes later Murphy was dead, his body mangled by a train.

Following the investigation by Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Darien police, it was assumed by some that Murphy’s death was possibly another troubling suicide by train — and the incident quickly disappeared from public view.

But “this was absolutely not a suicide by train,” Faxon said.

While there were no cameras on the platform or witnesses that day, the MTA police report obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media supports the family’s claim that Kevin Murphy had slipped on some ice on the platform and fallen on the tracks.

MTA police stated in the report that they found a 9-foot, 2-inch coating of ice on the platform over the point of impact and there was a possible scuff mark on the ice.

Peter Navarra, the engineer of the train that struck Murphy, told investigators the train had been traveling at about 70 mph bound for a stop at the Stamford train station, according to the police report.

As the train approached the Noroton Heights station, Navarra told investigators, “I saw something in the track area lying along the rail closest to the platform. As I approached closer, I noticed it started to move and it was a human being. I then placed the train into emergency and blew the train horn and stopped the train west of the platform. I thought I had missed this person.”

Metro-North had rejected a $5 million settlement offer.

In the family’s lawsuit, Faxon claimed that because the train that struck Murphy was a through train, not scheduled to stop at Noroton, it should not have been on a track adjacent to the platform.

He presented an affidavit from a railroad safety expert who stated that through trains traveling at 70 mph should be on the track furthest from the platform.

“Clearly, high speed through trains — even under Metro North's normal operating procedures — belong on an inside track away from the platform,l so if someone slips on ice, as in this case, or for any reason ends up on the tracks accidentally, they are not at risk,” Faxon said.