$10 Million Federal Jury Verdict for Donnell Linton, Ejected in 2017 Amtrak Cascades Derailment

On December 18, 2017, Amtrak Cascades Train 501 left the tracks on its inaugural run along the new Point Defiance Bypass route south of Tacoma. The engineer was traveling at roughly 78 mph on a stretch where the posted speed limit was 30 mph. Several rail cars left the viaduct and plunged onto Interstate 5 below. Three passengers died and more than 60 others were injured.

Donnell Linton, 47, of Renton, was aboard the train with his minor son. They were heading to Oregon to visit a newborn grandchild. The force of the derailment ejected both Linton and his son from the train, and they landed on the pavement below. Linton suffered fractures to his face, shoulder, and ribs. His son also sustained facial fractures.

Luvera Law Firm attorneys David Beninger, Patricia Anderson, and Andrew Hoyal represented Linton in one of the passenger trials against Amtrak arising from the derailment, working alongside co-counsel Clifford Law Offices of Chicago on the broader group of Cascades 501 cases. The central theory was that Amtrak had failed to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on this corridor. PTC is an automatic braking system that monitors train speed and can intervene before a human operator causes an overspeed accident. The National Transportation Safety Board had called for widespread PTC deployment after a string of fatal rail accidents, and the technology existed and had been mandated by Congress. The plaintiffs argued that Amtrak's delay in implementing PTC on this new route made the December 2017 disaster foreseeable and preventable.

After trial, the jury in U.S. District Court in Tacoma returned a verdict on February 13, 2020, awarding Donnell Linton $10,094,668. No post-verdict reduction of this award has been reported in court coverage or news accounts.

The Linton verdict was one of several judgments arising from the Cascades 501 derailment. Earlier trials in 2019 had resulted in an award of roughly $17 million for three other plaintiffs and a separate $4.5 million verdict for a passenger who suffered spinal injuries.