Lawyers pursue train-crash clients
Posted on Monday, October 6, 2008
LOS ANGELES — In the weeks since Metrolink Train 111 crashed head-on with a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley northwest of downtown L. A., in a collision that killed 25 and injured 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.
“Any unsolicited contact with a potential client either in person or by telephone [and perhaps even by mail ] by an attorney or someone acting on his or her behalf is both illegal and unethical,” the bar’s chief trial counsel, Scott J. Drexel, warned in a letter sent to area hospitals. “It is especially serious when the contact or solicitation takes place at the scene of the accident or at the hospital where the injured person has been taken for care and treatment.” The warning came as lawyers took out newspaper and TV advertisements, solicited on the Internet and even tracked down the injured at hospitals in a quest for a piece of what probably will amount to hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for the victims and their loved ones.
One victim’s cousin, who did not want to be identified out of concern for the family’s privacy, told the Los Angeles Times her family had been called by a Los Angeles firm with an offer to pay funeral expenses in exchange for representing the family.
The state bar has cautioned potential claimants against agreeing to unsolicited representation or quick settlements, noting that the injured and distressed often can’t “exercise reasonable judgment” in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy.
The stakes are high for both the families and the lawyers hoping to represent them. Attorneys familiar with previous railroad accident settlements say the damage claims are expected to exceed the $ 200-million statutory cap on liability from any single accident. That cap has not been challenged in court.
The first legal action was filed just three days after the Sept. 12 Chatsworth crash by the parents of 19-year-old Aida Magdaleno, a California State University, Northridge student who was killed.
The claim for unspecified damages, a necessary prelude to a liability suit in California, was filed by attorney Paul Kiesel of Kiesel Boucher & Larson and announced at a news conference.
Being the first lawyer publicly to announce representation can be an advantage in drawing the attention of other potential plaintiffs who aren’t sure how to proceed and have little if any experience in retaining a lawyer, said Steve Bost, a personal injury lawyer with Ives, Kirwan & Dibble.
Some members of the legal community, including Bost, are critical of the speed at which some firms acted.
“I don’t chase, and most good lawyers don’t chase business like that,” Bost said of the scramble by some to get business cards into the hands and firm names into the minds of those likely to sue for damages.
But R. Edward Pfiester Jr., a litigator who has 30 years’ experience in suing railroads, said that lawyers must be proactive because few clients know about California’s six-month deadline for filing legal action over an accident. Even among litigants who filed suit on time after the 2005 Glendale Metrolink crash, dozens saw their cases dropped because lawyers “didn’t fill out all the forms or jump through the hoops and hurdles correctly,” he said.
Pfiester was one of four attorneys with Hildebrand, McLeod & Nelson who convened two town hall meetings near Chatsworth last week to advise potential claimants on how to proceed. Before the meetings, Hildebrand attorneys had been retained by three victims’ families, they said. Before calling the meetings, Hildebrand got the word out with letters to the Chatsworth victims identified in news articles and broadcasts after the wreck.
“This is a little different from contacting victims,” partner Anthony S. Petru said of the gatherings. “The purpose here is educational.” Information for this article was contributed by Steve Hymon of the Los Angeles Times.
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