Legislators Urge More Compensation for Metrolink Crash Victims

Six Chatsworth-area Congressional representatives including Brad Sherman, Henry Waxman, Buck McKeon and Elton Gallegly, as well as Senators Barbra Boxer and Dianne Feinstein have joined a bipartisan California delegation of legislators calling on transportation company Veolia to fairly compensate the victims of the 2008 Chatsworth Metrolink train crash.

The accident, which took the lives of 24 people and injured an additional 101, occurred when a Metrolink train ran trough a red signal and collided with a Union Pacific freight train that had been given the right of way, according to findings of the National Transportation Safety Board. The Board also found the Metrolink train engineer, an employee of Veolia, to have been sending cellphone text messages while on duty seconds before the collision.

In it’s accident report, the NTSB found “… the probable cause of the September 12, 2008, collision of a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train was the failure of the Metrolink engineer to observe and appropriately respond to the red signal aspect at Control Point Topanga because he was engaged in prohibited use of a wireless device, specifically text messaging, that distracted him from his duties.”

Veolia and other companies involved are protected from paying what the delegation members believe is the true cost of damages by the 1997 Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act, which placed a $200 million cap on the total of all passengers’ claims against a passenger railroad.

In a letter the delegation sent to Veolia Chairman Antoine Frérot on Monday, it said, “It is now abundantly clear that the victims of this accident have medical bills, lost income and other damages that exceed this amount,” a finding corroborated by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman, who, at a May 2011 hearing said damages from the crash already exceed $230 million.

“We believe that the most important thing is to ensure that the victims and their families receive fair and full compensation,” the delegation wrote. “We are profoundly concerned that the long-term, devastating impacts on the victims may go unmet, and we are writing to ask that you step forward to ensure that victims receive justice.” 

In its letter, the delegation likened Veolia’s position to that of British Petroleum after the blowout of its Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The delegation pointed out that despite being protected by a federal cap on damages, BP has voluntarily established a fund that could reach $20 billion to compensate victims.

“Veolia now has the same choice,” the delegation wrote. “It can stand behind a statutory $200 million damages cap and leave the innocent without just compensation, or it can step forward to ensure that no victim of this terrible tragedy is left unable to pay medical bills, stay in their home, or afford to send their children to college.”

These 17 legislators signed the letter:

• Senator Dianne Feinstein                                                       

• Senator Barbara Boxer

• Representative Elton Gallegly

• Representative Laura Richardson

• Representative Bob Filner

• Representative Grace Napolitano

• Representative Henry Waxman

• Representative Howard Berman

• Representative Lois Capps

• Representative Adam Schiff

• Representative Loretta Sanchez

• Representative Linda Sánchez

• Representative Buck McKeon

• Representative Susan Davis

• Representative Brad Sherman

• Representative Judy Chu

• Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard