Administrator
Posted 09 May 2016 - 09:47 PM
WTOP radio, 5/8:
Metro senior management: Where are they now?
WASHINGTON —The National Transportation Safety Board has diagnosed Metro’s continuing failed inspections and maintenance issues as “the failure of WMATA senior management to proactively assess and mitigate foreseeable safety risks,” resulting in Carol Glover’s death after she sat on a smoke-filled Metro train for more than 30 minutes last year.
So who are those senior managers? And do they still work for Metro?
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Administrator
Posted 11 June 2016 - 08:17 PM
The NTSB report is available here:
Administrator
Posted 21 July 2016 - 03:46 PM
WTOP radio, 7/21/16:
Metro union sues to get fired worker back on job after deadly smoke incident
WASHINGTON — A Metro worker blamed for falsifying records about the tunnel fans that failed during last year’s deadly smoke incident near L’Enfant Plaza has been granted his job back by an arbitration panel — and Metro’s largest union has just filed a lawsuit against Metro because the worker hasn’t been reinstated yet.
Court documents obtained by WTOP show Mechanic AA Seyoum Haile was fired by Metro the month after Carol Glover died on a smoke-filled Yellow Line train. Metro found that preventive maintenance activities that Haile had signed off on for a fan shaft near the smoke incident had not really been done.
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Administrator
Posted 21 July 2016 - 03:47 PM
WMATA news release, 7/21:
Statement by GM Wiedefeld regarding ATU lawsuit
Administrator
Posted 22 July 2016 - 07:48 AM
The Washington Post, 7/21:
Union sues to reinstate Metro mechanic fired after L’Enfant Plaza smoke incident
Metro officials fired a senior mechanic just weeks after the L’Enfant Plaza smoke incident last year, alleging that he failed to properly inspect a tunnel fan, falsified an inspection report, and later lied about it to investigators.
But now, the largest union representing Metro workers is fighting the transit agency to have the mechanic reinstated.
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Administrator
Posted 10 January 2017 - 10:01 PM
WTOP radio, 1/9/17:
Metro argues in court filings not liable for death of rider
WASHINGTON — Metro asked a judge Monday to dismiss all lawsuits against the agency stemming from the 2015 death of Carol Glover and smoke-inhalation and other injuries to dozens of other riders, while also filing new claims to push blame onto the District.
As part of its cross-claim against D.C., Metro “expressly denies” that it “owes a duty to WMATA’s passengers to assist, rescue and/or evacuate passengers on Metrorail trains in the event of a fire-emergency situation.”
Metro said in the court filing that any responsibility it does have would fall to the fire department.
Metro argues D.C. Fire “ignored the obligations that it agreed to undertake in responding to emergencies in WMATA’s underground Metrorail subway system and ignored the efforts of WMATA officials to communicate critical information.”
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Administrator
Posted 21 April 2017 - 06:17 AM
WTOP radio, 4/20/17:
Judge orders Metro to reinstate worker fired after L’Enfant smoke incident
WASHINGTON — A Metro mechanic fired after an investigation into the deadly smoke incident near L’Enfant Plaza showed he had falsified records must be allowed back on the job, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
The ruling — in a lawsuit filed by the union against Metro and first reported by WTOP — upholds an arbitration panel decision that reduced Seyoum Haile’s penalty for the falsified fan test records to a six-month suspension due to lax oversight from supervisors and Metro’s failing safety culture.
Judge James Boasberg’s ruling acknowledged that firing Haile may have been consistent with Metro’s efforts to improve the safety of the rail system, and “may even have been the more just outcome here,” but found that courts have limited ability to overturn arbitration decisions that are within the confines of contracts and other agreements.
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Administrator
Posted 11 August 2017 - 09:49 AM
WTOP radio, 8/10/17:
Judge dismisses DC from Metro smoke response suits
WASHINGTON – A federal judge has dismissed D.C. government as a defendant in federal lawsuits over the response to a fire that killed a Metro rider and sickened dozens more as they were stuck on a smoke-filled train in 2015.
Scores of riders and the family of Carol Glover, the 61-year-old Alexandria woman who was killed, sued the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and D.C. government after the Yellow Line smoke event. Metro countersued D.C. as well.
District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled on Thursday that the riders and WMATA could not sue D.C. because it is protected by sovereign immunity.
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Administrator
Posted 15 October 2017 - 07:37 AM
WTOP radio, 10/15/17:
Many L’Enfant smoke lawsuits dismissed; victim’s family presses on
Court records show 20 cases have been dismissed just within the last month. In one case, a lawyer for one of the victims entered a notice that the case was settled before correcting it Friday to only formally indicate that all sides had agreed to have the case dismissed.
WASHINGTON — A majority of the lawsuits tied to the deadly 2015 Yellow Line smoke incident near L’Enfant Plaza have now been dismissed in federal court in a way that signals settlement agreements for dozens of the victims and their families.
Court records show 20 cases have been dismissed just within the last month. In one case, a lawyer for one of the victims entered a notice that the case was settled before correcting it Friday to only formally indicate that all sides had agreed to have the case dismissed.
Since June, at least 80 of the 100 or so lawsuits have been dismissed under similar circumstances.
Administrator
Posted 20 July 2018 - 06:53 AM
WTOP radio 7/19/18:
Carol Glover’s family settles L’Enfant Plaza smoke lawsuit
WASHINGTON – The family of Carol Glover, who died after a train filled with smoke near L’Enfant Plaza in 2015, has settled a $50 million lawsuit against Metro.
The details of the settlement are not public but Metro confirmed an agreement.
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