Personal Injury Blog

Judge Determines Compensation for Metrolink Train Accident Victims

August 12th, 2011
Metrolink Train Accident

The crash killed 25 people, and left more than 100 people injured

A Los Angeles judge has decided how to divide $200 million in compensation among victims of the Metrolink train accident of 2008.  The damages range from $9 million for a seriously injured victim to $12,000.

The division of the $200 million to compensate for victims of the crash was determined by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman.  The judge has admitted that it was excruciatingly painful to decide the amount of compensation that each of the victims, whose lives were altered on that day, should receive.  Over the course of the past few months, the judge has listened to more than 122 people explain how their lives were changed on that tragic day in September 2008.  According to the judge, it has been a Sophie’s Choice for him, deciding the monetary value that could be attached to each person’s or family’s pain.  The judge is working on a restricted $1 million liability.

On September 12, 2008, a plane crashed into a freight train near Chatsworth, Los Angeles.  The crash killed 25 people, and left more than 100 people injured.  An investigation of the crash blamed the engineer of the Metrolink train, who was allegedly distracted at the time of the accident.  Robert Sanchez, the engineer at the controls at the time, was apparently sending and receiving text messages just minutes before the accident.

Some of those people who were injured continue to receive medical treatment for their injuries.  For instance, one victim of the crash, a foreign exchange student, suffered third-degree burns and a brain injury in the crash.  According to the judge’s division, she will now receive $9 million in compensation.  On an average, victims of the crash will receive $4.2 million in damages.

The range of injuries in this accident was tremendous.  There were crushing injuries, amputations, spinal cord injuries, head and brain injuries, apart from dozens of fractures and broken ribs.  Those were just the physical injuries.  Many of the victims of the Metrolink train accident suffered post traumatic stress disorder, and the effects of these psychiatric conditions have been crippling.

Metrolink’s liability cap comes courtesy of a federal law in 1997 which limits damages payable by train companies in the event of an accident to $200 million.  The Metrolink train accident severely tested the sense in limiting the company’s damages, when it quickly became apparent to Metrolink accident lawyers that the damages that the victims suffered would exceed the cap.

The 122 victims of the crash, including injured victims and families of the dead, had jointly claimed for $350 million dollars in damages.  The damages were required to cover not just the cost of their medical expenses which have been extensive, but also the cost of long-term medical care.  Besides, families that lost breadwinners in the tragedy have had to deal with the looming financial catastrophe ahead of them.

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