PORTLAND, Maine — A superior court judge has dismissed the city of Biddeford from a lawsuit filed by the wife and children of a man struck and killed in 2012 by an Amtrak train, and moved the suit against Amtrak to federal court.
Sean Page, 40, of Biddeford was struck and killed by a southbound Amtrak Downeaster train on the railroad tracks at the intersection of West Cutts and Cutts streets in Biddeford on April 16, 2012.
In April of this year, Page’s wife, Valerie Page of Biddeford, sued the city of Biddeford and Amtrak for wrongful death, seeking unspecified damages for herself and his surviving children.
According to a complaint filed by Valerie Page’s attorney, Anthony J. Sineni III, Sean Page was struck by the train while walking on a path known to the city and to Amtrak as one used regularly by pedestrians to cross the tracks.
Sineni argued that the city was aware that the path was used to cross the tracks, and maintains the path in the winter, according to the complaint. He said Amtrak was also aware of the path and used surveillance to monitor such paths. According to Sineni, the city and Amtrak had failed in their duty to warn pedestrians and residents of the danger of crossing the tracks on the path.
The city of Biddeford, through its attorney, Michael E. Saucier, filed a motion to dismiss, claiming, among other objections, that as a governmental entity, it is immune under Maine law, and that Page was not struck by a city-owned vehicle.
On Wednesday, York County Superior Court Justice Paul A. Fritzsche dismissed the complaint against the city, according to court documents, and moved the case against Amtrak to U.S. District Court.
Amtrak has also denied any negligence. In an Oct. 6, 2014, response, Amtrak attorney Martha Gaythwaite of Verrill Dana, LLP, wrote that Sean Page was trespassing on the railroad tracks, adding that the danger of walking on active tracks “was open and obvious.”
Furthermore, she wrote, Sean Page’s negligence exceeded any negligence that a court might determine lay with Amtrak.
The case will be heard by U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby. A hearing date has not yet been set.