Attorney Todd Gardner filed a Federal lawsuit on February 26, 2020, against Sound Transit, Amtrak, and WSDOT on behalf of a young man who was severely and permanently paralyzed in the Amtrak derailment on December 18. 2017.
Though a young adult at the time of filing, he was just 16 years old at the time. Below are some of the stories written the day the lawsuit was filed.
KING 5 News, February 26, 2020
Natalie Swaby, King 5 News | February 26, 2020
A Burien teen who suffered a broken neck in the 2017 Amtrak train derailment near DuPont is suing Amtrak, Sound Transit, and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)
The teen, Timmy Brodigan, who now depends on a wheelchair to get around, is working every day to regain movement.
Brodigan’s attorney, Todd Gardner, claims the negligence of others put his client in this spot and says those people need to be held accountable.
Sound Transit said they are still reviewing the lawsuit. WSDOT and Amtrak said they don’t comment on pending litigation.
For Brodigan, the daily work is emotionally draining and physically exhausting, but he is determined, according to Gardner.
“He’d like his life back. He knows he’s not going to get that,” said Gardner.
Gardner has visited the Burien teen at Craig Hospital in Denver, a world-renowned facility that specializes in spinal cord injuries.
Brodigan went to that hospital after the derailment that happened near DuPont on Dec. 18, 2017. The Amtrak train was making its inaugural run on the Point Defiance Bypass. The route that was supposed to shave 10 minutes off the trip is where three people were killed and dozens injured.
Brodigan broke his neck in the crash.
“He would have suffered a severe blow to his head because it crushed his C5 vertebrae… it literally exploded. Shards of that bone shot into a spinal cord and that’s what caused this profound spinal cord injury,” Gardner said.
In his lawsuit, Gardner claims the transportation system was rushed into service before it was ready.
“It should never be a learning experience when you have 77 passengers and a crew on a train that’s moving 80 miles an hour,” said Gardner.
Gardner said instead, that the train should have been traveling 30 miles per hour on the curve where it derailed.
He also said that Sound Transit was aware before the derailment that, because of the curve on the route, Positive Train Control could provide added protection. Positive Train Control is a technology designed to stop a train before certain accidents occur. However, that technology was not installed.
“His training was just horribly inadequate. I mean, he had one round trip on this line without supervision,” said Gardner, who added that on the day of the derailment, the engineer was in a new locomotive.
“For 20 seconds, his eyes are not on the track. He’s trying to figure out what this means, he looks up, he’s four seconds from the corner, it’s now too late, and his last words were ‘we’re dead.'”
For many, what followed was a nightmare. Gardner said for Brodigan, it’s one that’s still not over. The very athletic teen, now a spinal cord injury survivor, is battling back with a focus on hope and healing.
KIRO 7, February 26, 2020
Kevin McCarty, KIRO 7 | February 26, 2020
Timothy Brodigan is still working to overcome injuries he suffered in the derailment of Amtrak 501, a devastating crash that left him paralyzed and unable to walk. In the two years since part of his spine was crushed, he’s making progress, but slowly.
“He’s a fighter and that’s what I’m most proud of about my young client,” said Brodigan’s attorney. Todd Gardner. who filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Federal District Court in Tacoma on Wednesday on behalf of Brodigan and his family. The suit named the Washington State Department of Transportation, Sound Transit, and Amtrak as defendants.
Brodigan was 16 and bound for Portland when the Amtrak Cascades derailed near DuPont on Dec. 18, 2017. Three people died and more than 60 were injured when the train entered a 30-mile-per-hour curve at nearly 80 miles per hour. The engine and several cars flew off the overpass, crashing onto the southbound lanes of Interstate 5.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigation found Amtrak, WSDOT, and Sound Transit responsible. The NTSB’s final reports said the engineer at the controls wasn’t adequately trained on the route, speed limit signs were too small to read, and the agencies collectively decided to use the newly opened Point Defiance Bypass, despite a risky sharp turn, before installing positive train control that would have slowed the train automatically.
“There was pressure, we know, by WSDOT. We know there was pressure by Sound Transit to get out there as opposed to waiting. And Amtrak went along with it,” Gardner said.
Several injured passengers have sued Amtrak in federal court and have been awarded tens of millions of dollars by juries. But Gardner said this is the first suit blaming all three agencies involved. Gardner said he wants to be sure Brodigan has the money he needs to benefit from advances in medical technology that may help him walk again.
“When something comes up, and it will in the future, that will help him be one of those that can access it,” Gardner said.
Amtrak, Sound Transit, and WSDOT all declined to comment on the suit. A trial date has not been set.
Bellevue Reporter, February 26, 2020
Aaron Kunkler, Bellevue Reporter | February 26, 2020
A new lawsuit has been filed stemming from the 2017 Amtrak Cascades passenger train derailment near DuPont, Wash., that killed three people and injured dozens.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Timothy Brodigan and his parents. Brodigan was then 16 years old and was paralyzed by the crash. It’s the latest in a string of lawsuits that have forced Amtrak to pay millions. However, this lawsuit further names the Washington State Department of Transportation and Sound Transit as defendants.
“This gives us the power to dig,” said Todd Gardner, the Renton-based attorney representing the Brodigans.
Gardner said Brodigan has been recovering at a hospital in Denver. He’s still not able to walk without a walker, and his family has split their time between Washington and Colorado.
Naming the state and the two transit agencies as defendants will let the plaintiffs dig further into the relationship between the state and the agencies. Gardner hopes this sheds more light on the errors that made the derailment possible on Dec. 18, 2017.
“This was not an act of God… this was negligence,” Gardner said.
Amtrak did not provide comment for this story, and a Sound Transit spokesperson said the agency is reviewing the lawsuit. The Washington State Department of Transportation did not return a request for comment at the time of publication.
Other lawsuits have resulted in large payments, including a 2019 case where the jury awarded $17 million to several plaintiffs, the Seattle Times reported. A separate lawsuit netted $4.5 million. Gardner said he expects to win millions, either in a jury trial or settlement.
The 2017 crash happened on a stretch of rail owned by Sound Transit known as the Point Defiance Bypass. It would have allowed the train, owned by Amtrak, to finish its route 10 minutes faster. The crash occurred on its inaugural passenger run. The State Department of Transportation provides oversight for both companies.
On the route, there were two major curves that required the trains to reduce speed. The curve where the train derailed required trains to slow from 79 mph to 30 mph. When the train hit that curve in 2017, it was going more than 80 mph.
The lawsuit said there were speed limit signs that signaled the reduction two miles before the curve and immediately ahead of it. Trains take at least one mile to fully stop, Gardner said.
The lawsuit also alleges Amtrak didn’t provide properly trained employees to drive the train. The engineer who was driving the train also sued Amtrak earlier this year, claiming he hadn’t received adequate training to safely drive the train.
At the time of the derailment, Sound Transit was in the process of installing a system known as Positive Train Control, which automatically slows down trains when needed. However, it had not been completed at the time of the crash.
The lawsuit alleges that if this system had been active, the derailment likely wouldn’t have happened.
In November, Amtrak changed its ticket policy, barring passengers from suing. The company has also been obligated to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars for a 2015 derailment in Philadelphia that killed eight and injured hundreds.
My Northwest, February 26, 2020
Hanna Scott, My Northwest | February 26, 2020
On Dec. 18, 2017, then 16-year-old Timmy Brodigan was on an Amtrak train to Oregon to visit family. He was among those on the inaugural trip of the new Point Defiance Bypass route. At 7:33 a.m., the engineer took a 30-mile-an-hour curve at roughly 80 mph derailing the train and sending several of its cars crashing down on I-5 in DuPont, in some cases onto vehicles on the freeway. Three people on the train died, and dozens were hurt, including Brodigan who was later found, severely injured, and buried in the debris of the wreck.
The teen was lucky to be alive, but a broken neck and spinal and other injuries left him virtually wheelchair-bound, changing his life forever. The three agencies responsible for ensuring the route was safe for service failed, miserably, according to attorney Todd Gardner who filed a lawsuit on behalf of Brodigan and his parents Wednesday against Amtrak, Sound Transit, and the State of Washington.
“We need to help Timmy Brodigan,” Gardner said at a press conference announcing the legal action.
The goal of the lawsuit is two-fold.
“Timmy is going to need help for his entire life, medically and in terms of care of support to have the best chance he can possibly have at reaching his potential as a young man,” Gardner said, noting the need to ensure there is plenty of money for the now 18-year-old to get all of the advanced treatment and care he needs – forever.
The second objective:
“We want to provide an open forum, which the courtrooms are, to really learn the interplay between Amtrak, Sound Transit, and the DOT to figure out what happened in the hope that it doesn’t happen again,” Gardner said.
Gardner points to the NTSB report that showed all three agencies were negligent, from not installing positive train control to not properly training the engineer.
The agencies, “violated their duties as a common carrier, were negligent, engaged in willful misconduct and/or acted with a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of others, including Tim Brodigan,” court documents state.
Sound Transit set Amtrak up to fail, by engaging,” in willful misconduct and/or acted with a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights and/or safety of others, including Tim Brodigan,” Gardner contends in court papers, providing a list of failures by Amtrak.
Failed to properly train and/or supervise its agents and employees for operations on the Point Defiance Bypass, operation of the Charger Locomotive and in overall proper train control safety and speed reductions.
Failed to comply with its own operational and safety plan, rules, standards, and procedures.
Failed to install and render operable proper train control safety, speed, and location systems.
Failed to slow Train 501 when its employees knew or should have known that the speed was too fast for the sharp and dangerous curve at MP 19.8.
Failed to observe signs, landmarks, and other physical characteristics in sufficient time to slow Train 501 prior to entering the sharp and dangerous curve at MP 19.8.
Operated the train greatly in excess of the authorized, posted, and safe speed limit of 30 mph at the sharp and dangerous curve at MP 19.8.
Failed to train or otherwise require that its crew communicate directly prior to MP 19.8 about the upcoming curve and reduction in speed limit from 79 mph to 30 mph, or require additional -mitigation for the dangers created by this curve prior to the initiation of revenue service.
For Sound Transit the list includes:
Failed to complete the installation of PTC on the Point Defiance Bypass prior to certifying the Bypass as safe for revenue service commencing on December 18, 2017.
Failed to provide appropriate, safe, and effective mitigations for the hazard created by the curve created at MP 19.8, particularly given the failure to complete the installation of PTC on the Bypass.
Failed to post meaningful and effective speed reduction signs prior to MP 19.8.
Failed to properly follow its Safety and Security Management Plan and failed to update the Preliminary Hazard Analysis to reflect the fact that PTC had not been implemented as of December 18, 2017.
And for WSDOT the list of failures includes:
Failed to provide reasonable and meaningful oversight of Sound Transit’s safety certification process.
Failed to provide reasonable and meaningful oversight of Sound Transit’s work and operation of the Point Defiance Bypass as its contractor.
Failed to fulfill to responsibility for ensuring that the Point Defiance Bypass was safe to operate prior to initiating revenue service.
Gardner declined to say exactly how much he would be seeking for damages but did say it would absolutely be in the millions.
This lawsuit over the Amtrak 501 derailment is the first to name Sound Transit and Washington State as defendants, in addition to Amtrak.
None of the companies had any comment on the lawsuit.
KOMO News, February 26, 2020
Gabe Cohon, KOMO News | February 26, 2020
It’s been more than two years since Tim Brodigan nearly died after an Amtrak train derailed. Now he’s suing Amtrak, Sound Transit, and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) for an amount to be determined at the time of trial.
Brodigan was on board Amtrak 501 headed to see cousins in Oregon when it derailed on December 18, 2017. In the minutes after the derailment, a good Samaritan came across Brodigan, who was hanging upside down near a window of the train. But he was so bloody and bruised that the man initially thought the then 16-year-old was dead.
He ended up in the ICU with a broken neck and several other injuries. He suffered fractured vertebrae and ribs, a contusion on his head, and severe bruising to his lungs, according to his parents. He was practically paralyzed and needed a ventilator to breathe. At that point, his family didn’t know if he’d survive. To this day he’s still relearning how to walk.
According to court documents, Brodigan’s attorneys cite that both Amtrak, Sound Transit, and WSDOT participated in “willful misconduct, reckless, conscious and/or willful disregard, and/or flagrant indifference to the rights and safety of passengers on train 501.”
The NTSB investigation found Amtrak 501 was traveling nearly 80 miles per hour through a curve with a 30-mph speed limit when it derailed.
The lawsuit claims Amtrak failed to properly train their engineer, who described the trip to the conductor as a “learning experience” before the derailment. That engineer filed his own lawsuit against Amtrak last month for the lack of training.
Sound Transit was responsible for safety certification of that section of track and found in a 2015 analysis that the hazard risk for curves on that route was “unacceptable,” the lawsuit claims. But Sound Transit went ahead with the inaugural run before finishing the installation of Positive Train Control, a fail-safe system that automatically stops a train going dangerously fast.
WSDOT failed to provide reasonable oversight of Sound Transit’s safety certification process, court documents state.
Documents go on to say that Sound Transit violated its duty as a common carrier by not posting effective speed reduction signs prior to milepost 19.8 and completing certain safety installations on the train, among other things.
As a result, Brodigan’s attorneys cite that he suffered severe and permanent injuries and “past and future economic and non-economic” damages and that his parents, Mike and Robyn Brodigan, suffered both parental grief and emotional distress.
“Tim is in this spot only because of the negligence of others. We feel they should be held accountable for all of those costs, including ones we can’t project,” Gardner said.
Gardner wouldn’t speculate on the damages they will end up seeking. Earlier this month, a jury awarded another victim of the derailment more than $10 million from Amtrak.
“It will be ultimately as significant a claim economically as probably we’ve ever seen in the state of Washington, given the injuries and the extent of the culpability of the defendants,” Gardner said.
Brodigan’s parents thanked dozens of people for helping their family during this very tough time. They say the first responders and the Eagle Scout who reached Brodigan at the scene likely saved his life. Plus, the family, friends, and strangers who offered prayers and tokens of love restored hope during a Christmas in the hospital a few years ago.
“I look at life differently now,” Brodigan said in a 2018 article. “I try to stay positive because getting mad isn’t going to do anything you know.”
In physical therapy, he is relearning to sit up on his own. Strengthening his core remains a focus. In occupational therapy, Brodigan works on fine finger movement. A nerve in his left shoulder is still injured, so his left-hand doesn’t work as well as his right.
“They really push me to do my best,” Brodigan said about his therapists.