The Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad, Port Clinton, and the County of Carbon, 2 Hazard Square, Jim Thorpe, have been named defendants in a lawsuit filed in the Carbon County Court of Common Pleas by a Schwenksville couple who are seeking compensatory damages in excess of $50,000 on two counts of alleged negligence and carelessness on the part of the defendants.

Elbert M. and Joyce B. Saddler, husband and wife, are seeking judgment over the defendants following an incident in which they claim a defect in the sidewalk adjacent to the railroad was responsible for injuries sustained by Elbert Saddler, who has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

In the complaint, the plaintiffs state the incident happened on Aug. 12, 2021, when they were walking on the sidewalk from the parking lot to the train station, at which time a wheel which was part of a walker the husband was using went into a defect in the sidewalk, causing him to fall onto the railroad tracks.

The suit contends the incident has resulted in Elbert Saddler suffering physical pain, mental anguish and the loss of life’s pleasures.

The negligence and carelessness counts contend the railroad failed to make the sidewalk safe after having previously worked on the tracks in the vicinity of the sidewalk defect, which, the suit contends, was caused by railroad employees.