Suit against Metro alleges negligence

WASHINGTON - The family of a teen injured in this week's Metro crash filed a $950,000 negligence suit, the first to be filed in connection with the collision.

"The suit will test the Transit Authority's sincerity and its express view that they want to help victims of the Metro train collision. And, the suit will, it will test their willingness to step forward and take responsibility for the actual damages that these victims experienced a rather tragedy," says attorney Lawrence Lapidus of Karp, Frosh, Lapidus, Wigodsky & Norwind.

Lapidus represents Imhotep Yakub and Dawn Flanagan whose 15-year-old son Davonne Flanagan suffered a fractured leg when the train he was riding in smashed into another six-car train.

The teen was sitting in the rear of the car that struck the stationary train and then went airborne.

The civil suit filed Wednesday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia claims Metro was negligent in "operator error, negligent placement and supervision of the operator and maintenance failures," Lapidus says.

The suit seeks $950,000 for pain and suffering, plus medical expenses for surgery and rehabilitation.

"My clients wanted to file early because the Transit Authority is known not to settle cases without filing suit," says Lapidus, who has litigated dozens of suits against Metro over the last three decades.

Lapidus says the boy has a positive attitude, despite the horrific nature of the crash that killed nine.

"He was operated on yesterday by a well-known orthopedic surgeon, Dr. John Cohen," Lapidus says. "We don't know yet what the residual effects will be, how much physical therapy will be needed. I'm sure that he is going to be seeing orthopedic doctors and physical medicine doctors for a significant period of time."

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein says Metro anticipates lawsuits will be filed. The crash was the deadliest in Metro's 33-year history.

"Our hearts go out to the families of the survivors," Farbstein tells WTOP. "We hope for a speedy recovery to people who were injured in the accident. We fully expected that lawsuits would be filed. The sudden loss of life of a loved one in an accident is a terrible experience, and we hope that the healing process can soon begin."

Lapidus says he did not pursue monies from the $250,000 reserve fund Metro is establishing for victims because he was told the primary use of that fund would be for burial expenses.

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