Negligence-Wrongful Death-Negligent Hiring/Supervision-Punitive Damages

Defendant appealed the denial of its motion for judgment as a matter of law, or alternatively for a new trial or remittitur of punitive damages. Plaintiffs filed suit after their family member was shot while riding on defendant’s train; although other passengers heard gunshots and reported them to train personnel, they dismissed the sounds as fireworks. Plaintiffs filed suit alleging negligence, negligent hiring/supervision and wrongful death, seeking over $100 million. The jury found defendant liable for $8.8 million in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitive damages. The district court found the punitive damages award excessive and reduced it. Plaintiffs cross-appealed the reduction of the award.  

Where plaintiffs failed to present sufficient evidence to satisfy the causation element of any of the negligence theories they asserted, as there was insufficient evidence that violent crime was foreseeable to defendant and no expert testimony established that decedent likely would have survived with more immediate medical care, the jury erred in entering a verdict for plaintiffs.  

Judgment is reversed. 

Aaron v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation (MLW No. 84173/Case No. 24-2654 & 24-2693 – 12 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Grasz, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, Bough, J. (Jerry A. Cuomo, Newark, NJ for appellant; Mark S. Landman, New York, NY; Sean P. Hamer, Kansas City, MO; Rachel Marie Smith, Kansas City, MO; and Gerald T. Ford, Newark, NJ on the brief) (Jonathan Theodore Sternberg, Kansas City, MO for appellees; James Robert Layton, St. Louis, MO and Aubrey Nick Pittman, Dallas, TX on the brief)