Latest suit from Chief derailment claims Amtrak, BNSF ‘placed profits over safety’

A trio of law firms have filed the latest suit on behalf of a passenger injured in the June 27 derailment of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, with one of the firms saying “the ongoing carelessness” of Amtrak and BNSF is the cause of the accident.

Passenger Marion Stephens will be represented in the suit by attorneys from the Romanucci & Blandin; Cross Law Firm; and Hupy & Abraham.

Amtrak, BNSF, and MS Contracting, owner of the truck that was struck by the train, causing the derailment, were named as defendants. The suit says Stephens, whose hometown was not released, “sustained significant, permanent injuries from which he will never fully recover.”

Attorney Antonio Romanucci of Romanucci & Blandin said in a press release that Amtrak and BNSF, “by placing profits over safety … needlessly put the lives of countless passengers in grave peril.”

It is the latest in a series of suits arising from the accident that killed four people and injured about 150. Several passengers and two Amtrak crew members have named similar defendants in their suit, while Amtrak and BNSF have sued the truck owner, and the widow of the truck driver killed in the accident has sued a BNSF employee and the county where the accident occurred.

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