(The following story by Richard Wronski appeared on the Chicago Tribune website on February 28, 2009.)
CHICAGO — A Metra passenger critically hurt in a deadly crash won a nearly $30 million verdict Friday to compensate for her injuries and pay for a lifetime of therapy and round-the-clock care.
Renea Poppel, 28, suffered brain damage and remains in a wheelchair as a result of the 2005 derailment that killed two people.
“She and her mother can go to sleep tonight knowing she’s taken care of for the rest of her life,” said her lawyer, Daniel Kotin.
A Cook County jury deliberated nearly nine hours over two days after more than a week of testimony from doctors and economists.
Poppel’s attorneys had sought $67 million; Metra offered $16.7 million.
The $29.5 million verdict includes $9 million for “loss of normal life” and $6 million for pain and suffering, Kotin said.
The jury’s verdict is final. Both sides agreed not to appeal the amount, said John Patton Jr., the attorney for Metra. “This case was always about what’s best for Renea Poppel and what amount of money is fair and just,” he said.
Metra acknowledged before the trial that it was negligent in the derailment, resulting in the only passenger deaths in the commuter line’s history.
Killed were Jane Cuthbert, 22, of Oak Forest, and Allison Walsh, 38, of New Lenox. Their families and Metra reached an $11 million settlement in November.
Poppel, an admissions counselor at Kaplan University, was aboard the Rock Island Line train headed downtown when it blew through a 10 m.p.h. track crossing at 69 m.p.h. and derailed near 47th Street on Sept. 17, 2005.
The National Transportation Safety Board blamed now-fired engineer Michael Smith for failing to heed signals and slow down.