Metrolink Settles Glendale, California Train Crash Lawsuits for $30M

Metrolink, the commuter rail system that links Orange County with surrounding areas including Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties, has agreed to settle the numerous personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits filed against it after the horrific 2005 train crash and derailment killed 11 people and injured 180 others.

California Metrolink Train Accident Settlement

The California train accident settlement involves a 2005 Metrolink train accident and derailment in Glendale California. A Metrolink commuter train slammed into a gasoline soaked Jeep Cherokee that was abandoned on train tracks by Juan Manuel Alvarez. After hitting the Jeep, the commuter train hit a Union Pacific freight train and another Metrolink train going in the opposite direction and jackknifed. Eleven people died in the incident and 180 others were injured. It is the second deadliest Metrolink train accident in Los Angeles – only behind the 2008 Chatsworth California Metrolink train accident, which killed 25 people and left hundreds of others injured.

According to news reports, the $30 million train accident settlement encompasses approximately 90 percent of the lawsuits filed against Metrolink. California train accident attorneys and Metrolink officials continue to negotiate the remaining cases before a trial begins in January 2010.

Alvaraz Convicted and Sentenced

Alvaraz, who authorities say deliberately drove the Jeep onto the tracks, soaked it with gasoline and planned on committing suicide, changed his mind at the last minute but couldn’t get the vehicle off the tracks in time. He was convicted of 11 counts of murder and sentenced to eleven consecutive life terms in 2008.