Each year many people in Oregon State and Washington State are killed by either freight trains or passenger trains. Train injuries do not just cause death but also involve many people losing limbs such as an arm or leg. With many fatality or wrongful death cases involving trains ERISA often may apply. ERISA is a 1974 federal law which deals with employee retirement benefits.

Accidental death policies under ERISA often exclude or deny coverage when a death is due or results from committing or attempting to commit an assault, felony or other criminal act. Skilled railroad lawyers often try to show that the deceased person was trespassing on the railroad tracks when they were killed. In any ERISA case its important in my opinion to get an attorney early on in the case before evidence and witnesses memory fade.