DETROIT – A Detroit man is begging for justice after an 88,000-pound QLINE streetcar rammed into the back of the Uber he was inside in 2023, leaving him with what he says are hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills.
The man sued the organization that runs the line, and now they are claiming government immunity.
On Nov. 30, 2023, the streetcar was moving on Woodward in Detroit when it suddenly came to a stop after hitting an Uber.
“The impact was devastating,” the man riding the Uber said.
He says life before that day was fulfilling.
“It was active. It was fun. I enjoyed my life,” he said.
After that, life has been marked by hardship, including a month-long hospital stay, using a cane, and a cervical spine fusion surgery.
He says he cannot work.
He and his attorneys filed a lawsuit against the Regional Transit Authority, which oversees the QLINE.
“We filed this suit because he has $500,000 in medical bills and someone needs to pay for being at fault for this case,” Lawrence Kayj, the CEO of the Kajy Law Firm, said.
“We got the internal reports,” Thomas Kerr, the lead attorney at the firm, said. “The internal reports have a video of the accident. It is clear the QLINE rear-ended the vehicle, it was very preventable – and that’s what their own investigation determined. That’s what the safety coordinator testified to – that this accident was completely preventable.”
Aside from those findings, this case highlights a more far-reaching topic.
“The issue in this case is that the RTA is claiming government immunity,” Kajy said.
Oftentimes, there are exceptions to that immunity, and the public entity has to pay.
But, because the QLINE isn’t clearly defined as a motor vehicle, it does not fall under that exception.
The court has not yet ruled on whether governmental immunity applies in this case.
“If they are right, that means they can never be sued without showing something called gross negligence, which is a very high threshold that will get rid of 98% of cases if I had to guess. So, without that, essentially, they will claim immunity, and we will have no recourse against them,” Kajy said.
Local 4 reached out to RTA for comment. They say they cannot comment on pending litigation.
They did refer to an emergency motion they recently filed in the case, but it was not listed on the public docket as of this afternoon.
The RTA’s lawyers have not responded to our request for a copy of the motion.
“It should be defined as a regular motor vehicle, because it is,” the victim said. “You’re carrying passengers; the people of the city of Detroit ride that train.”
This month, a judge will decide whether RTA can continue to claim immunity.