Metro Settlements
We all remember June 22, 2009 here in Washington, D.C. That was the day that our subway system’s antiquated sensor system finally gave out completely, causing one train to collide into the back of another on the Red Line. Eight people died and dozens were injured, many of them severely.
This wasn’t a freak occurrence. The National Traffic Safety Board had been delivering scathing reports on the safety of the Metro transit system for years, but since the NTSB can only offer “recommendations” that don’t carry the weight of the law, Metro simply kicked the can down the road and let the system continue to deteriorate.
As you can imagine, there were quite a lot of lawsuits filed. A freak occurrence is one thing, but this was a case of negligence that had been quite literally documented for years. There was no way of getting around the fact that WMATA let this happen.
We represent some of the victims of this tragedy, and we are honored that they placed their trust in us. It’s no secret that many of the settlements have already been reached, but there are still a few cases that are pressing on and moving to trial.
We were concerned to read in The Washington Post that some of the victims’ families that settled felt that their settlement was too low. The mother of one victim was quoted in the article as saying “It was lower than I expected… No money in the world could bring back my daughter. Her kids deserve to live a better life like their mother was trying to give them.”
This is one of the key points of any wrongful death suit, particularly one where a parent dies and leaves children behind. You have to understand that there is a severe ripple effect that occurs whenever children are orphaned. Immediately their lives and the lives of the immediate family are changed in ways that are incredibly difficult to handle. We aren’t sure about the financial situation of the mother of the victim in this case, but we know that she now has a lot more financial responsibilities to deal with than she did before the accident. We would hope that Metro (or at least Metro’s insurance company) would recognize that and would compensate them accordingly.
We have a hard time understanding why Metro is being tight-fisted in its settlement offers, considering the wreckage that crash made out of so many people’s lives. If they want to use an excuse of financial hardship, we simply aren’t buying it. About one day after the article in the Post was published, there was another article in the Examiner about what WMATA is willing to spend money on, even as the Post tells you what they are unwilling to spend money on:
WASHINGTON - A newspaper report says Metro is paying more than $51 million to consultants to help better run the transit agency.
The Washington Examiner, citing data obtained through a public records request, says Metro is spending $51.9 million on current consulting contracts with 18 different companies.
Metro spokesman Dan Stessel says the figure represents about 2 percent of the agency's budget for fiscal year 2012.
It baffles the mind to consider that WMATA is willing to spend almost $52 million on consultants who are, according to the article, “…analyzing fare cards, escalators and crafting requests for other outside contractors…” We understand the need to spend on escalators, but fare card analysis and contractors to help find other contractors seems extraordinarily wasteful. And when you consider that this $52 million only represents 2% of WMATA’s budget, it is insulting to the victims of the Red Line crash that they are being low-balled in settlement offers.
It is further insulting that with $52 million being 2% of their annual budget, much-needed repairs and improvements in infrastructure were put off for so long. Sensors were left to rot, rails were left cracked, escalators were left to collapse, and ultimately, dozens of people were left to be injured and eight people were left to die.
There is no doubt about what happened here. This accident happened as the result of negligence. And low-ball offers to the victims of this accident are being offered from the top of a pile of money.
Greenberg and Bederman is a personal injury law firm located in Maryland. We are currently offering legal assistance to anyone who has been injured due to circumstances that were beyond their control, and that includes injuries caused on public transit systems. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, contact Greenberg & Bederman for a free consultation today.
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