Jury Awards Woman $8 Million After Amtrak Accident

(Seattle, WA) -- A Washington woman is receiving eight-million dollars in damages for injuries sustained during the 2017 deadly derailment of an Amtrak Cascades train in Pierce County. A federal jury in Tacoma awarded Emily Torjusen $2.5 million for past non-economic compensatory damages and $5.5 million for future non-economic damages yesterday. Torjusen was among dozens of people who were injured when the train derailed during the inaugural run of the Point Defiance Bypass route from Seattle to Portland.

Ultimately, three people died. The National Transportation Safety Board found the locomotive's engineer did not slow down in time before reaching a curve. It ruled that inadequate planning, insufficient crew training, excessive speed, and human error were to blame. So far, the company has paid out over $45 million in suits connected to the derailment.