Metrolink to pay $39 million after 2005 crash
Personal Injury News
Article Date: 1/7/2010 | Resource: MLG
Metrolink to pay $39 million after 2005 crash
Metrolink, a commuter line of locomotives serving Southern California, has reportedly agreed to pay $39 million to settle nearly all of the lawsuits filed after a 2005 derailment killed 11 people.
Henry Kilinski of Anaheim was among those killed.
An attorney representing crash victims said all but one of the 186 wrongful death and injury suits against Metrolink have been resolved.
Metrolink spokeswoman Angela Starr declined to comment as it is pending litigation, she said.
The crash was caused by Juan Manuel Alvarez, who parked his Jeep on the tracks.
Metrolink train No. 100 derailed after plowing into Alvarez’s Jeep Cherokee, then crashed into northbound Metrolink train No. 901 at the Glendale-Los Angeles city line.
Alvarez, who said he was trying to commit suicide, was sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms. Besides killing 11, the incident left 180 injured.
Kilinski, 39, frequently took the train to his job at Alliance Global Risk in Burbank.
At the trial in 2008, Kilinski’s mother said she will never be able to forget the day her son was killed.
“I died the same day he died,” she said, noting that she motivates herself by taking care of her husband. “I feel like I don’t exist any more. … I exist, but I am not alive any more.”
When contacted by the Register today, Kilinski’s mother, Livia, would only say: “I’m sorry, I have nothing to say.”
City News Service and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
For more information regarding this article please contact:
Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com