(The Associated Press circulated the following on March 11, 2011.)
LOS ANGELES — More than 100 survivors and families of those killed in one of the nation’s deadliest passenger train crashes will get to tell a judge about the disaster’s impact on their lives as they seek a piece of a $200 million settlement.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge is set to begin hearing Friday from 124 claimants to determine how to divvy up the settlement reached last August by Southern California’s Metrolink commuter train system and its former contractor Connex Railroad, both of which accepted liability for the Sept. 12, 2008 collision.
Twenty-five people were killed and more than 100 others were injured when a Metrolink train ran a red light and slammed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train in the Chatsworth area of the San Fernando Valley. Investigators believe a Metrolink engineer, who was provided by Connex, was texting moments before the crash.
Last month, a federal judge’s approval of the $200 million settlement fund was finalized and the case was transferred to state court where victims will get to present their claims to Judge Peter Lichtman.
The full story is on the San Francisco Examiner website.