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Metrolink Agrees to $200 Million Maximum Liability for 2008 Train Accident

Metrolink and Connex Railroad have accepted a maximum $200 million liability for the Chatsworth train accident in 2008 that killed 25 people.  Under federal law, $200 million is the maximum liability for a train accident.  Metrolink and Connex Railroad filed court papers this week accepting that liability, and the court now must approve the settlement and distribute the money to the victims.

According to the court papers, this will avoid the need for months, and possibly years of expensive and time-consuming litigation.  There are 109 lawsuits against Metrolink currently pending in Los Angeles County Superior Court.  The filing also asked that all personal injury and wrongful death claims arising from the accident be included in the federal proceeding.

This is the largest single train accident settlement in Metrolink history.  While victims will be able to receive their compensation much earlier than they would have if they had gone to trial, the money that they receive will likely not be enough to cover the losses they have suffered.

The 2008 Metrolink train accident was blamed on the engineer Robert Sanchez, who and investigation later found had been texting at the controls of the train.  As a result, Sanchez missed a red light, and the train ended on a collision course with a Union Pacific freight train.  The resulting collision left 25 people dead, and more than 130 people injured.  It was the worst disaster in Metrolink history in recent memory, and it led to a major overhaul of the system in California.

Many of the improvements that were planned for the system are still pending, and some have been put into place.  These include surveillance video camera systems on operator rooms on all Metrolink trains.  The agency has also ordered new crash proof rail cars that are much less vulnerable to the impact of a crash than the earlier cars.  Some of these measures have been opposed strongly by Metrolink workers’ unions, who have been especially distrustful of the camera systems.  However, to its credit, Metrolink has gone ahead with the safety programs anyway.  California train accident lawyers have welcomed many of these measures as a promising first step, but more needs to be done to ensure that Metrolink passengers, who use the trains every day for their daily commute, continue to be safe.

Metrolink has had a checkered safety history.  In fact, Chatsworth train disaster was Metrolink’s second experience with a major disaster.  Just two years earlier, 11 people had been killed in an accident caused when a train crashed into an SUV parked on the tracks in Glendale.  The SUV had been parked by a man who, it later turned out, had been intent on committing suicide.  Many of the fatalities and serious injuries in the accident had been blamed on the push-pull train system that Metrolink continues to use.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of Metrolink accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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