(The following report by Christine Hanley appeared on the Los Angeles Times website on December 10.)
LOS ANGELES — Attorneys for Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. said Thursday that they had settled about 40 lawsuits and were working to resolve 84 others filed on behalf of passengers who were killed or injured in an April 2002 collision between one of its freight trains and a Metrolink commuter train.
“Burlington, of course, feels badly about the whole thing, and they want people to be fairly and adequately compensated,” said Los Angeles attorney Michael Larin, a day after the jury in the first case to go to trial awarded an injured passenger $8.9 million. “We’re working as diligently as we can to get through them.”
Attorneys for the railway and the plaintiffs disagreed about how the verdict would affect ongoing negotiations or any future jury awards.
Burlington attorneys, who said it was too early to say if they would appeal, said the injuries were different in each case and couldn’t be compared. But attorneys for several plaintiffs said the verdict showed that the railway and its insurance companies drastically underestimated fair compensation.
“Our case is a death case and therefore the largest in all of the field,” said Richard Bridgford, lawyer for Ann Kube, whose husband was killed in the wreck.
“My feeling is that our case is clearly worth more,” he said.
Kube, 53, said the verdict sends a message to Burlington about safety and accountabil- ity.
“I’m very pleased this amount of money was awarded,” the Moreno Valley resident said.
“I think it’s important for the public to realize that Burlington is a large company that doesn’t care about the safety of the people. Otherwise, they would have taken precautions,” she said.
More than 150 claims, some of which were resolved or dropped, were originally filed by passengers or their relatives after a mile-long train of 67 Burlington freight cars crashed head-on into a double-decker Metrolink train in Placentia during morning rush hour April 23, 2002. Three people were killed, and more than 260 were injured.
Federal investigators concluded last year that the accident was caused by an inattentive Burlington Northern crew that missed a warning signal and the lack of an automatic braking system on the freight train.
The lawsuits allege that the braking system, long sought by the Federal Railroad Administration, could have prevented the collision. The lawsuits also allege that the crew was fatigued from overwork and that the conductor had a history of losing track of signals.
Terms of the settled cases are confidential. Of the 84 cases in mediation, four are set for trial, and 15 to 20 others are scheduled for settlement negotiations within the next two months, Larin said.
Metrolink remains a defendant in the 84 pending cases but “was not at fault here,” he said, adding that Burlington continues to “be clear about the fact they admit fault.”
“There may be a few cases where Metrolink remains a defendant, but we’re not sure,” Larin said.
After a monthlong trial and two days of deliberations, an Orange County jury awarded Pamela Macek, a Riverside 53-year-old mother of three, nearly $9 million — mostly for psychological injuries.
She was on her way to work as chief financial officer for Arrow Industries, riding in the front Metrolink car. Her cheekbones and upper jaw were shattered, and she had surgery for her face and back. Her attorneys also argued that she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and cannot return to work.
Metrolink was dismissed as a defendant in her case, and she waived punitive damages. Her case could not be settled, Burlington attorneys said, because of a dispute over how preexisting medical conditions factored into the state of her overall health after the accident. And because Burlington Northern admitted responsibility before Macek’s trial, at issue was the extent of her injuries and the damages.
Macek was awarded $7.5 million for pain and suffering, $900,000 for past and future wage losses, and $500,000 for medical bills. That amount is about twice what the railroad offered before trial, her attorneys said.
“It was a little higher than we expected,” said attorney Norman J. Watkins, who represented Burlington in the case.
At the same time, Watkins said, Macek was one of the most severely injured passengers and had more than $1 million in medical costs and lost wages.
Burlington attorneys said the Macek award’s effect is difficult to determine because the extent and nature of injuries are different for each person. And any cases that go to trial would also have different juries.
“These cases turn largely on the individual injuries and the nature and extent of the injuries,” Watkins said. “And those are unique to every plaintiff. Any effect [of the Macek verdict] would not be substantial on other cases, from my perspective.”
But Bridgford, who is representing Kube and her two daughters, said his clients and others are potentially eligible for even higher awards because they have not waived punitive damages, which punish defendants for malice, fraud or negligence, and go beyond compensation sought for property damage, loss of wages, and physical or psychological injuries.
Burlington has made an offer that doesn’t “even come close to approaching the loss my clients are suffering,” he said.
Attorney Kevin Boyle, whose firm represents five plaintiffs including the family of Larry Sorensen of Pedley, who died of blunt trauma, agreed that potential punitive damages, which they are pursuing, could prove costly. Burlington wants plaintiffs to waive punitive damages “so there would be no evidence about how devastating the crash was,” he said.
“So I think this verdict shows that people recognize this was a traumatic event, and it bodes well for remaining victims.”