TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A federal jury has awarded three people who sued over the deadly Amtrak derailment in King County nearly $17 million for their pain and suffering.
A jury in U.S. District Court in Tacoma decided Friday to award $7.75 million to Dale Skyllingstad, $7 million to Blaine Wilmotte and $2 million to his wife, Madison Wilmotte.
In 2017, Amtrak’s first paid passenger run on a new route from Tacoma to Portland, plunged onto Interstate 5 near DuPont, killing three people and injuring more than 60 others. Amtrak admitted liability before trial, and the jury heard evidence for two weeks on the damages and effect on the plaintiffs.
Skyllingstad was a passenger on the train when his railcar left the tracks after the train approached a 30-mph curve going 78 mph. His attorneys said he broke his back, fractured his hip and suffered a traumatic brain injury that Skyllingstad said has changed his personality.
Blaine Wilmotte was a passenger in a truck on Interstate 5 when a railcar crashed onto the truck from the overpass. He was trapped in the truck in what he described to the jury as “excruciating pain,” for 90 minutes before he was extracted and taken to a hospital.
Madison Wilmotte sued over how the accident has impacted her relationship with her husband. Madison Wilmotte was 22 and pregnant at the time of the derailment.