$16.75 Million Verdict in First Amtrak Cascades Derailment Trial

On December 18, 2017, Amtrak Cascades Train 501 was making its inaugural paid-passenger run from Tacoma to Portland when it entered a 30-mph curve traveling at 78 mph. The train left the tracks on a bridge over Interstate 5 near DuPont, Washington, sending several cars crashing onto the freeway below. Three passengers were killed and more than 60 people, including motorists on the highway, were injured.

The cause was not in dispute for long. Positive Train Control technology, which would have automatically slowed the train before the curve, had not been installed on that segment of track. The National Transportation Safety Board later concluded the crash was preventable. Amtrak conceded negligence before the first trial began.

David Beninger of Luvera Law Firm, together with co-counsel at Clifford Law Offices, represented Dale Skyllingstad, Blaine Wilmotte, and Madison Wilmotte in the first case to reach a jury. The trial ran for approximately two weeks before Judge Benjamin Settle in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.

Skyllingstad, a train passenger, sustained a broken back, a fractured hip, and a traumatic brain injury. Blaine Wilmotte was a truck driver on I-5 whose vehicle was crushed by a derailed railcar; he suffered multiple broken bones including a fractured femur and was trapped under the wreckage for roughly 90 minutes. Madison Wilmotte, who was 22 and pregnant at the time, brought a claim reflecting the impact of her husband's severe injuries on their marriage.

On September 13, 2019, the eight-person jury returned a verdict of $16.75 million: $7.75 million to Skyllingstad, $7 million to Blaine Wilmotte, and $2 million to Madison Wilmotte. A mistrial was declared for a fourth plaintiff in the same case after undisclosed medical testimony created an issue at trial. No reduction on appeal is reflected in public reporting. Luvera Law Firm and Clifford Law Offices went on to represent more than 30 additional plaintiffs in the same court.