Lawyers Circle California Metrolink Crash

The LA Times reports that plaintiffs' lawyers have aggressively pursued victims of the Metrolink crash:

In the weeks since Metrolink Train 111 crashed head-on with a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, killing 25 and injuring at least 130 others, litigators have pursued clients so aggressively that the State Bar of California reminded lawyers of the professional sanctions they could face for initiating contact with accident victims.

. . .

The warning [from the Bar] came as attorneys took out newspaper and TV advertisements, solicited on the Internet and even tracked down the injured at hospitals, all seeking a piece of what is likely to be hundreds of millions of dollars in damage awards for the victims and their loved ones.

One victim's cousin, who did not want to be identified in order to protect the family's privacy, told The Times her family had been called by a Los Angeles firm with an offer to pay funeral expenses in exchange for representing the family against Metrolink.

. . .

The first legal action was filed just three days after the Chatsworth crash by the parents of 19-year-old Aida Magdaleno, a Cal State Northridge student who was killed.

(Via Mass Torts Profs).

- SBS