Train Archives - Atlanta Georgia Wrongful Death Lawyer

Wrongful death suit in Quebec train crash filed in US

(Reuters) – The guardian of a girl whose Canadian father died in the tragic Quebec train crash this month filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Illinois on Monday against a number of railway and fuel services companies connected with the disaster.

The lawsuit is believed to be the first filed in the United States related to the train derailment in the early hours of July 6 that sent 72 tankers of crude oil crashing into the village of Lac-Megantic in Quebec, where they exploded in a ball of fire, killing almost 50 people.

Annick Roy, the guardian of Fanny Roy Veilleux, whose father Jean-Guy Veilleux, a Lac-Megantic resident, allegedly burned to death as a result of the train crash, filed the lawsuit in Cook County. Court documents did not provide the age of Fanny Roy Veilleux, but described her as a minor daughter.

The defendants include railroad operator Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway Inc, its parent company Rail World Inc, MMA Chairman Edward Burkhardt, and fuel services company World Fuel Services Corp.

Roy alleges in the suit that the companies largely failed to keep the train’s oil tankers, known as DOT-111s, up to reasonable government safety standards and are therefore negligent in the death of Veilleux.

“For more than 20 years, problems with DOT-111 tankers rupturing upon derailment have been well documented by government safety regulators and media outlets,” Roy said in the lawsuit. “The railroad and petroleum industries have long acknowledged the design flaws in the DOT-111, but have consistently ignored the (National Transportation Safety Board’s) calls to address the dangers associated with rupture of the tankers.”

Roy said in the lawsuit that the tanker cars that spilled in Lac-Megantic were the same type that ruptured in a 2009 [...]

By jwj|July 24th, 2013|News|Comments Off|

Wrongful Death Suit Filed in Train Derailment – NBC Chicago

Bodies Found in Derailment Debris

Flattened vehicle was found beneath rubble during first full day of cleanup. Jeff Goldblatt reports.

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Freight Train Derails, Bridge Collapses

A freight train jumped the tracks near Willow Road and Shermer Avenue on the Glenview, Northbrook border. A bridge collapsed under the train, creating a boom so loud, neighbors said it sounded like an explosion.

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A judge has ordered all clean-up halted at the site where a train derailed Wednesday in Glenview after a couple was found dead buried beneath the rubble.
Two people discovered inside a car beneath debris from the derailment were identified as Burton Lindner, 69 and wife Zorine Lindner, 70.
The couple lived a block away from the site of the derailment, which spilled thousands of tons of coal from the train. Their car and bodies were discovered Thursday morning while crews cleaned up wreckage from the derailment.
Lindner was the founding and senior partner for his firm, Lindner & Lindner, in the northern suburb and had been practicing law since 1970.
“Bert and Zorine were just two fantastic people, well-loved by everyone,” said attorney Michael LaMonica. “They traveled together. They volunteered together. They were super close with their family.”
Attorneys for the couple filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Union Pacific on behalf of the Lindner family and estate and requested cleanup work be stopped.
The Cook County judge injunction ends at 11 p.m. Saturday night. Until then all activity must cease within 400 feet of site, which means no cleanup and no trains.
“This exact same spot was the site of a train derailment a mere three years ago,” LaMonica said. “So Union Pacific knew about this spot, they were supposed to have done [...]

By jwj|July 6th, 2012|News|Comments Off|