Amtrak Train Crash Victims Face $200 Million Injuries Cap
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There are many questions surrounding Tuesday’s Amtrak crash. The amount of money victims could receive for injuries isn’t one of them as federal law caps total rail-accident damages at $200 million.
Congress established the limit in 1997 on all rail accidents, not just Amtrak, as part of a compromise to bail out the ailing railroad. It’s an arbitrary cap imposed regardless of the number of victims or how horrific the accident, said Joanne Doroshow, executive director of New York Law School’s Center for Justice & Democracy.