Metrolink Trainwrech

Texas grad suing college because she can't find employment

2009-08-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a swell idea (or not) for recent college grads having trouble finding a job: Sue the school from which you earned a degree.

That's what Trina Thompson is doing.

According to an Aug. 2 article in the New York Post, the 27-year-old Thompson filed a lawsuit in Bronx Supreme Court late last month against Monroe College, which is based in the Bronx. (Read the court filing here.)

Thompson is seeking the $70,000 she spent on tuition, plus $2,000 for the emotional stress associated with an unsuccessful job search over the past three months. She says she has been unable to find gainful employment since earning her bachelor of business administration degree in information technology in April and claims the school's Office of Career Advancement hasn't provided her with the leads and career advice it promised.

Thompson later told CNN.com that she graduated with a 2.7 GPA and had "good" attendance, said Weinberg Law Firm, Texas Employment Lawyer.

Los Angeles women and the bottle leading to more DUI's

2009-08-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

It is safe to say that being a smart drinker is something everyone is individually responsible for.

That being said, a new report says that women in the U.S. are consuming more alcohol, and drunken-driving arrests among females are rising rapidly while declining among men, said Michael Bialys, Los Angeles DUI lawye r.

While men still consume more alcohol than women and are responsible for a greater number of drunken-driving cases, the gap is shortening.

Mom Says Coach Ignored Son's Stroke-Causing Brain Injuries During Football Game

2009-08-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — The mother of an Illinois high school football player is suing his football coach and the district, claiming her son sustained permanent, stroke-causing brain injuries during a game after his complaints of a headache and signs of a concussion went ignored, says John Q. Kelly, New York brain injury lawyer.

Demond Hunt Jr.'s mother, Shanai McLorn, accuses East St. Louis Senior High coach Darren Sunkett of a win-at-all-cost mentality that recklessly endangered his players by such tactics as contact drills without proper protection, at one point causing an athlete to break his neck.

Orange County hospital employee claims promotion denial due to sexual harassment complaint

2009-08-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

Houser is seeking compensatory, actual and punitive damages, plus pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney's fees and costs.

Sexual harassment lawyer Orange County will be representing him.

The case has been assigned to Judge Milton Shuffield, 136th District Court.

Chicago landlord sues ex-tenenat over nasty Tweet

2009-08-04T15:32:00.000-07:00

Chicago corporate landlord, Horizon Group Management, sued an ex-tenant claiming defamation in her Twitter remarks. The libel suit against the former tenant says she made false statements about her “moldy” apartment on the Internet using Twitter.

Litigation lawyer Chicago for Horizon Group file injury lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court citing libelous Twitter statement by ex-resident.

Chicago, IL–Horizon Management Group LLC, a corporate landlord, filed a lawsuit against former tenant, Amanda Bonnen, for a remark she “tweeted” about her “moldy” apartment. The libel suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court last week for lawyers representing the management company alleges the former tenant defamed the Chicago apartment leasing and management company by tweeting the following comment to a friend in May, 2009, “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s OK.”

City fires manager after DUI offense last fall

2009-08-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 20, 2009
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Mr. Victor said Mr. Barley's position is nonunion but is subject to civil service protections, allowing him to appeal the firing to the Civil Service Commission within 10 days.

The city hasn't decided whether to hire a new operations coordinator or redistribute those duties, nor whether policies should be changed in the wellness program, which last year included the October golf outing at which employees paid greens fees and had access to alcohol.

Mr. Barley is three years short of eligibility for a full pension but can get a reduced pension.

dwi defense lawyer pittsburgh

LA Personal Injury Lawyers Ringler Kearney Alvarez LLP

2009-07-31T14:38:00.001-07:00

Los Angeles injury law firm Ringler Kearney Alavarez LLP have established themselves as a premier law firm by providing clients with consistently excellent service. They pride themselves on their intellect, creativity and tenacity.

These LA wrongful injury lawyers have achieved victories in over 100 trials with total verdicts in excess of $250 million.

Ringler Kearney Alvarez LLP achieves their verdicts by utilizing their substantial financial resources to obtain the best result possible for each of their clients. This LA personal injury specialist law firm fights tirelessly for their clients, no matter the cost and no matter the foe.

More Business for Los Angeles Trial Lawyers

2009-01-22T14:36:00.000-08:00

According to the Associated Press, 5 more lawsuits have been files against Metrolink for last years' catastrophic train accident in Chatsworth. The lawsuits were filed by survivors and families of those that perished.

I bet with the total number of riders injured in the accident that they must be looking for the the best class action lawyers to represent them.

I guess for sure that the victims' families are looking for a high profile LA personal injury lawyer to make sure they get the best settlement against Metrolink.

More Bad News for Metrolink, Opportunities for Class Action Attorneys

2009-01-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

What with all that has happened to Metrolink in the Chatsworth Train Wreck, yesterday a metrolink train was evacuated when a suspicious package was found in one of its cars in Rancho Cucamonga. Thankfully, what was found was not a dangerous package.

According to the Contra Costa Times, "The package turned out to be "a bag of some sort with duct tape and wires, is the report we got," Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said. "It turned out to be true but it was a harmless package.""

There were no reports of injury during the evacuation, but the train was held up for more than 2 hours!

Thankfully nothing that happened yesterday was as bad as what happened in Chatsworth. Now I hear that some of the survivors are looking to some high profile catastrophic injury lawyers in the Los Angeles Area to help them out in their cases against Metrolink.

Here's more about the train evacuation yesterday.

Los Angeles Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Has History of Dealing with Train Wrecks

2008-09-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

Metrolink worker sued Burlington Northern Santa Fe, saying his alcoholism returned after the fatal 2002 Placentia collision.

A metrolink conductor who said his drinking problems resumed after the Placentia train crash in 2002 will receive $8.5 million to settle his lawsuit against one of the nations largest railroads.

Patrick Phillips of Riverside agreed Tuesday to settle his suit against Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. The case was set to go to trial next week in Orange County Superior Court.

Phillips, now 52, suffered minor head injuries the morning of April 23, 2002 when a Burlington Northern Freight train crashed into a Metrolink commuter train in Placentia. Three people died and more than 260 were injured in the early morning crash.

Though his injuries were slight, the conductor alleged that the trauma was serious enough to trigger a resurgence of his severe alcoholism, which he said he had controlled since rehabilitation in the early 1990's.

"I have never seen a case like this in 30 years, yet it is indeed what happened here," said Jerome L. Ringler, Phillips' attorney.

"We had extensive medical evaluations by a variety of neurological specialists. All were in accord that his injury, although minor, changed his behavior."

After the train crash, Phillips was hospitalized for evaluation but released about two hours later, Ringler said. In the months after the crash, however, Phillips allegedly resumed his alcohol abuse, resulting in at least two other hospitalizations.

Ringler said his client was finally diagnosed with alcohol-related dementia, a sever mental deficiency.

Phillips, who is now disabled after working 12 years for Metrolink, was unavailable for comment. He is living with a sister in Riverside.

Under terms of the settlement, Phillips will receive $8.5 million, including interest, paid out over 20 years. The amount is worth about $4.5 million in today's dollars.
Officials for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, one of the nations four largest railroads, confirmed the settlement but declined to discuss the case.

Phillips' lawsuit is one of more than 100 Civil cases stemming from the Placentia crash, which federal investigators said was caused by an inattentive Burlington Norther crew that missed a warning signal.

The lawsuits allege the collision could have been prevented by an automatic braking system, long sought by the federal National Transportation Safety Board.
They also contend that the freight train crew was fatigued by overwork and that the Burlington Northern conductor had a history of losing track of signals.

In December, an Orange County jury awarded Pamela Macek, 53, also of Riverside, about $9 million in damages for psychological and physical injuries suffered in the crash. Her case was the first to go to trial.

Metrolink Attorney Jerome Ringler Interviewed by FOX 11

2008-09-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

Message from Experienced Train Accident Lawyer to Survivors and Victims' Families of Chatsworth Disaster

2008-09-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

Special Message for Victims of Chatsworth Metrolink Disaster

On September 12, 2008, an unprecedented tragedy occurred in Chatsworth, California when Metrolink Train #111 struck a Union Pacific freight train which was traveling on the same tracks. Our hearts go out to the victims. But this tragedy should not have happened. It happened because of human error on the part of Metrolink employees. Unfortunately, as the lawyers of RKA know well, human error by railroad engineers is not at all unique as a cause of commuter rail disasters.

Jerome L. Ringler has greater experience in representing victims of commuter rail and freight train disasters than any other lawyer in the State of California, if not the country. He has served as lead counsel in every one of the largest commuter rail disasters which have occurred in Southern California in the past 10 years.

In the Placentia Commuter Rail Disaster of 2003, Mr. Ringler was appointed by the Court as lead counsel for all of the Plaintiffs. He was requested by all of the lawyers representing individuals injured or killed in that incident to try the first case. That case resulted in the largest verdict for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ever rendered by a jury in the United States. That verdict, which was for $9 million, is detailed below in the multimedia section.

In the Burbank Commuter Rail Disaster, which also occurred in 2003, Mr. Ringler was again appointed by the Court to serve as lead counsel. In that capacity he was given the responsibility to try the entire liability (i.e., fault) case for all of the victims. In other words, every one of the dozens of lawyers who represented individual victims in that disaster trusted Mr. Ringler to try the liability phase for them, knowing that their clients would only recover if Mr. Ringler was successful. He was. In fact, Mr. Ringler not only obtained a favorable verdict for all of the plaintiffs, he obtained a $12 million verdict for his own client as well. This verdict was the largest in the State of California for a person with the type of injuries Mr. Ringler's client had suffered. This verdict is detailed below in the multimedia section.

Mr. Ringler is currently lead counsel for all plaintiffs in the Glendale Metrolink Derailment Disaster of 2005. This incident was, before September 12, 2008, the largest Metrolink disaster in history. Interestingly, in that case (which involves 11 deaths and dozens of serious injuries), Mr. Ringler has, against all odds, developed testimony proving that, even though a mentally-ill person placed a jeep across the tracks that the Metrolink train was traveling upon, human error on the part of the Metrolink engineer prevented him from stopping the train before hitting the jeep, which caused the train to derail. In other words, while the jeep certainly never should have been on the tracks, the Metrolink engineer would have been able to stop the train before ever striking the jeep had he only been paying proper attention. That case is scheduled to go to trial on June 8, 2009, with Mr. Ringler as lead counsel.

The verdicts detailed on this page all relate to railroad litigation. However, Mr. Ringler has achieved enormous, record-breaking monetary awards across California in a variety of complex areas. Those accomplishments are detailed elsewhere in this website. To see them, click here.

If you or a loved one has suffered injury or death as a result of the horrific Chatsworth Metrolink Disaster, we are available to discuss your rights with you confidentially and at no charge.

Please feel free to contact us at your convenience. Ask for Mr. Ringler,or any of his partners, at (213) 473-1900.

www.rkallp.com

Comments on Chatsworth Metrolink Train Wreck By Experienced Train Accident Lawyer Jerome Ringler

2008-09-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

As a governmental agency, lawyers noted, Metrolink cannot be subjected to punitive damages in any civil action - a situation those lawyers said likely protects it from a bankruptcy situation. A spokesman for Metrolink said the agency would not be making any comments on potential legal issues.

Attorney Jerome Ringler, who served as lead counsel for victims of a Metrolink train derailment in Placentia in 2002, those in a Burbank derailment in 2003, and in the Glendale derailment in 2005, said the Chatsworth crash could expose further fault with Metrolink.

"I suspect the real reason these tragedies occurred is due to either simple inattentivenesss on the part of the engineers or a failure on the part of the railrood industry to allow these engineers adequate rest between shifts so that these kind of tragedies could be avoided," Ringler said.

"This is a horrible tragedy. They are facing hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars of exposure."