A 2008 commuter train collision that killed 24 people and injured hundreds in California was back in the news last week when lawyers for some of the victims requested that the employer of the train engineer add additional compensation to a $200 million settlement.

The $200 million settlement has already been agreed upon, in accordance with the Amtrak Accountability Act of 1997, which caps train disaster settlements at that amount. According to several reports, $200 million is simply not enough to cover medical expenses for all of the victims' personal injuries. About 100 victims suffered severe injuries when the engineer steered the train head-on into a freight locomotive in Los Angeles on that September day.

The engineer of the commuter train had been travelling at about 40 miles per hour and sending out text messages seconds before crashing into a Union Pacific freighter.

After a settlement was agreed upon without trial in February 2010, a judge approved $200 million in damages to be divided between victims and their families, who were represented by many different law firms. In July, the money was divided among the victims by another judge, who made note that the damage cap seemed inadequate given the injuries involved.

Now, a legal team is asking for at least $64 million more, and for the transportation company which employed the engineer to set up a compensation fund similar to that which BP PLC set up after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil spill. In that case, BP is providing $20 billion to compensate victims of the oil spill.

The judge who divided the settlement among victims estimated that if the case had gone to jury, it would have secured damages closer to $320 million. He came up with $264 in damages, but eliminated those for post-traumatic stress disorder, future medical care, past pain and suffering and loss of consortium in order to meet the cap.

Source: Law.com, "Train Crash Victims Take Bid to Exceed Damages Limit out of Court," Amanda Bronstad, Jan. 25, 2012