A Seattle man is among the first survivors to file lawsuits against Amtrak for a Sept. 25 crash in Montana that left three dead and dozens injured.
Saint Matthew "Matt" Johnson, 40, was on the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle when it left the tracks near Joplin, Montana. He and the other plaintiffs who filed suit Thursday suffered physical injury as well as severe emotional and psychological trauma, according to the federal lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois.
The other suits are filed on behalf of Stuart and Karen Dixon, aged 60 and 57, a couple from Berwyn, Pennsylvania, and Justin Ruddell, 40, of Klamath Falls, Oregon.
"Trains don't derail by themselves," said Sean Driscoll, of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, in a statement. "This is another derailment by Amtrak in four years and something must be done to hold the wrongful parties accountable."
The four suits filed Thursday bring the number of cases being handled by the Chicago firm against Amtrak in connection with the Montana crash to 11.
The firm said it recently helped obtain a $57 million settlement against Amtrak on behalf of its clients in the 2017 derailment in DuPont, Washington.
