Deadly Train Crash Could Challenge Liability Cap
The latest fatal Metolink crash that killed 25 and injured 135 people may exceed the federal liability cap put in place in 1997. That year the federal cap of $200 million was put in place during the reauthorization of Amtrak and imposed by congress for any one accident. Wrongful death and catastrophic injury awards in the Metrolink crash could exceed the cap and lawyers and legal scholars differ in their predictions of whether the cap will be deemed constitutional or not. Lawyers believe they will prevail in proving the cap unconstitutional while legal scholars using caps in medical malpractice, airline crashes, workers’ compensation and defective drugs argue otherwise. The debate over Metrolink's potential vulnerability is academic at this point, because there hasn't been a case in which juries have awarded damages anywhere near the $200-million limit. According to the Public Citizen, a national nonprofit group committed to protecting health, safety and democracy, what may undoubtedly benefit in the litigation is the availability of information provided to the public, thus resulting in possible new regulations.
