Personal Injury Law

Metra to Pay Families of Two Chicago Train Accident Victims $11 Million for Wrongful Deaths

The Metra commuter rail agency and two families have reached an $11 million settlement agreement in the wrongful deaths of two Chicago train accident victims. An Illinois judge approved the settlement on Wednesday.

The deadly Illinois train crash occurred in September 2005 when a train headed to Chicago from Joliet derailed when changing tracks. The train twisted off the rails and skidded, while its fourth and fifth cars broke off. The fourth car rammed into a steel bridge.

Over 80 passengers were injured. Oak Forest resident Jane Cuthbert and New Lenox resident Allison Walsh died in the train derailment accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Metra determined that human error caused the crash. The train was reportedly moving at a speed of 70 mph when the accident happened even though signals indicated to the engineer that he needed to slow the train?s speed to 10mph before it reached the crossover.

Under the terms of the Chicago wrongful death settlement, Walsh?s family will get $5 million, while Cuthbert?s family will receive $6 million. Walsh and Cuthbert are the only two people to die while on a Metra commuter train.

At least 35 more Chicago personal injury lawsuits against Metra are still pending. Since the 2005 crash, Metra engineers must now undergo additional training.
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If you or someone you love was injured while riding a Metra train or a Chicago Transit Authority train, it is important that you speak with a Chicago train crash lawyer that knows how to examine the crash scene and other evidence and can successfully pursue your train accident lawsuit.

$11 million settlement in Metra, Chicago Breaking News, November 12, 2008

$11 million settlements in Chicago train deaths, AP, November 12, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Metra

National Transportation Safety Board

Full post as published by Chicago Injury Attorney Blog on November 13, 2008 (boomark / email).