NJ Transit engineer awarded $11 million after passing out in 114-degree locomotive cab

By Larry Higgs, nj.com

An NJ Transit engineer who suffered career-ending head injuries after passing out in a locomotive cab with non-working air conditioning that reached 114 degrees in July 2020 was awarded $11.6 million Monday by a jury in a federal labor suit.

The former engineer, Scott Lupia, 47, of Denville, filed a Federal Employer’s Liability Act suit on Dec. 27, 2021 after he was ordered to operate a locomotive with a broken air conditioner on July 21, 2020. A train master recorded a temperature of 114 degrees in the cab when he reported the broken AC unit, court papers said.

He was ordered by a chief trainmaster to operate the train anyway, the lawsuit said. Refusing to take train 6659 out would have been considered insubordination and could have cost Lupia his job, court papers said.

The high temperatures caused him to pass out, but he was able to make an emergency radio call for help and hit the emergency brakes to stop the train in Summit, before he lost consciousness and hit his head on metal in the cab, the lawsuit said.

The State Climatologist at Rutgers University called July 2020 one of the hottest on record with 25 days where temperatures reached at least 90 degrees and above.

Federal Railroad Administration safety regulations require railroads to equip their locomotive cabs with a working air conditioning unit. The suit charged that NJ Transit violated those regulations and that as a result, Lupia was injured.

Lupia suffered head injuries and underwent three surgeries and had permanent hearing loss, permanent eyesight damage and almost constant balance and dizziness difficulties due to inner ear damage, said attorney Scott Fitzgerald of Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald and Pirrotti.

Why didn’t he open a window? NJ Transit Operating Regulations require that an engineer’s face and head cannot be exposed to any opening of a small cab window, meaning it can’t be opened more than about one inch, the suit said.

Expert testimony at the trial also raised that question, however the locomotive, an electric powered ALP-46, generates heat during operations, which raises the temperature in the cab. Other engineers testified at the trial that opening a window creates an outflow of air which sucks in hot air from the electric locomotive motors.

An engineer at NJ Transit since 2006, Lupia can no longer work as an engineer because of his injuries. A railroad enthusiast, Lupia built model trains and wrote a book about painting and detailing model trains.

“He was a talented musician, he was a railroad buff, which is equally as sad. He loved his job,” Fitzgerald said. “I told the jury, he was literally living the dream, now it’s taken away from him.”

NJ Transit didn’t respond to an email seeking a comment about the case.

“We’re very pleased the jury gave Mr. Lupia an award that comes as close as possible to value the many losses he sustained as a result of the railroad’s outrageous negligence,” Fitzgerald said.

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Larry Higgs may be reached at [email protected].

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