Metrolink agrees to $30 million payout

Metrolink has agreed to pay $30 million to settle most of the lawsuits stemming from the 2005 commuter train crash that killed 11 and injured 180 people in Glendale.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The payments would resolve about 90 percent of the cases from the derailment in which a commuter rail train struck a Jeep Cherokee left on the tracks by Juan Manuel Alvarez.

Attorneys for the victims and their family members argued that the rail agency deserved much of the blame for the disaster because they believe the engineer did not apply the brakes when he should have. But Metrolink has generally contended the blame rested with Alvarez.