Train Derailment Victim Funding
“Janie” knew her children had saved her life, but she debated whether she would ever tell them that. They had not been able to save their father, but that wasn’t their fault. They hadn’t even been there. You don’t bring your kids on date night.
It had been more than a year since “Janie” (not a real person) and her husband had enjoyed a date night. Too often, her husband wound up having to work over the weekend. That fateful Friday, though, he was off. When their neighbor’s teenaged daughter had been available to babysit and their old high school friend’s band was playing at the local tavern, they decided they finally would enjoy an evening out.
Their friend’s band had gone on first. After their set, Janie and her husband joined them at their table. There were drinks and laughs. Midnight came too soon. Seeing what a good time her husband was having, Janie volunteered to walk home and relieve the babysitter.
She would never see her husband again.
Several miles away, a tanker train full of fuel oil was parked on a slight grade. The lone engineer, an exhausted man who had gone off shift at 11:00 p.m., did not take the two hours he would have needed to secure the hand brakes on each of the train’s individual cars. He applied some of the hand brakes and then left the train’s locomotive running to power its air brakes, providing just enough hold to keep the train’s wheels in place.
A few minutes after Janie left the tavern, the locomotive’s improperly maintained engine failed. Its air brakes lost power. The few hand brakes that had been engaged by the engineer were not enough to hold the hundreds of tons of train cars in place. Very slowly — almost imperceptibly, at first — it began to roll.
The final band of the night was playing when the darkened, driverless freight train barreled into the center of town at freeway speed. The train derailed on the curve near the tavern and careened onward for another half-mile. The rest of the cars piled up. The oil ignited. The entire downtown, including the tavern, was reduced to rubble by the resulting inferno.
Janie’s husband was one of more than 40 people who died in the train disaster. After the fire was controlled and cleanup began, personal injury attorneys and authorities began to hash out liability for the dozens of wrongful deaths caused by the train derailment and explosion that night. The process ultimately would take years to resolve. While the lawsuit was pending, however, Janie had to keep her family together without her husband’s paycheck. Her attorney told her to call USClaims.
In cases of mass injury and wrongful death caused by disasters such as train derailments, USClaims often can approve victims’ applications for pre-settlement funding quickly. The money won’t bring back the loved ones lost, but it can help families and survivors keep their houses, pay for their car insurance, and continue to put food on the table for their children. If you’re in line for a settlement from the wrongful death of a family member, and you’re having trouble making ends meet, we can help.
At USClaims, we offer pre-settlement funding, if a case is qualified for pre-settlement funding then we would purchase a portion of the proceeds of the anticipated court judgment or settlement for some cash now. USClaims only gets paid if a case is won or has reached a settlement! Apply now or call us today at 1-877-USCLAIMS to learn more.
