(The Canadian Press circulated the following story on September 5.)
MONTREAL — Bombardier Inc. received Friday a lawsuit involving a fatal accident last year on a light-rail system it is building for New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.
Helene Gagnon, a spokeswoman for Bombardier Transportation, would not comment on the suit brought by the family of Kelvin DeBourgh, 23.
DeBourgh was operating a Bombardier train during a test run when it derailed last Sept. 27 while going around a curve at a speed faster than the design of the curve permitted.
He was fatally injured when more than 7,000 kilograms of concrete blocks in the train – used to simulate the weight of passengers – slid and pinned him against the front of his car.
“It’s in the hands of our attorneys,” said Gagnon. “Once a legal process has started we will not discuss the legal strategy and we’ll respond to all the allegations in the course of the judicial process.”
She said Bombardier was named as a defendant in the suit along with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Gagnon said testing on the unmanned rail system has resumed since April without incident.
Bombardier has built two similar light-rail systems – Vancouver’s Sky-Train and another in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.
Meanwhile the aerospace division, trying to recover from the severe downturn in the global aircraft industry, is embroiled in a legal battle with U.S. millionaire Michael Huffington over delays in delivery to him of a new $30-million US Global Express jet.
Bombardier and Huffington have both filed claims in court alleging the other party failed to act in good faith as the target delivery date for the luxury jet dragged on for more than four years.
Huffington, who is backing Arnold Schwarzenegger in the race for California governor, made headlines for spending $30 million of his own money in a failed 1994 run at the Senate.