Corboy & Demetrio will File Lawsuit for Two Victims of Missouri Amtrak Crash
For Immediate Release:
Corboy & Demetrio announced today it will file a lawsuit stemming from Monday’s deadly crash of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief Train 4, which was carrying nearly 300 people when it struck a dump truck on the tracks at a public crossing near Mendon, Missouri, and derailed.
Corboy & Demetrio Partners Thomas Demetrio and William T. Gibbs are representing a 39-year-old Chicago mother and her 11-year-old daughter in the negligence lawsuit.
The mother and daughter who are suffering back injuries, had boarded the train in Garden City, KS, and several hours later, the train crashed at the Porch Prairie Ave. crossing in Missouri.
“Our clients travelled to Kansas to celebrate a relative’s birthday and were on their way home from this special day when tragedy struck, needlessly, at an unmarked crossing without either a gate or a flashing light,” Demetrio said.
“In this day and age, families should be able to board a train without concern that their lives are in danger. This crash could have, and should have, been prevented,” Gibbs said.
Corboy & Demetrio has long been a national leader in representing victims of train derailments around the country and acquired a record-setting jury verdict of $29.6 million on behalf of a woman who was injured in the 2005 Metra crash in Chicago. The jury verdict, which was obtained by Partners Demetrio and Gibbs, remains the largest verdict in Illinois for an individual injured in a mass transit crash. The firm, which played a leadership role in the litigation, represented 35 of the victims.
In another tragic train crash, Corboy & Demetrio represented the families of three high-school students who were killed and seven others who were injured when a commuter train collided with a school bus in northwest suburban Chicago. The global settlement in the case was over $25 million with Thomas Demetrio serving as lead plaintiffs' counsel. The litigation led to the nationwide inspections of 3,000 rail crossings with similar equipment and to new safety procedures and training of bus operators in the school district in which the collision occurred.
Media Contact: Helen Lucaitis, Esq., 312-346-3191(office) or 312-550-2077 (cell 24/7); HHL@corboydemetrio.com