Train Crash Lawyer Jerry Ringler - Chatsworth Metrolink Accident

Special Message for Victims of Chatsworth Metrolink Disaster

On September 12, 2008, an unprecedented tragedy occurred in Chatsworth, California when Metrolink Train #111 struck a Union Pacific freight train which was traveling on the same tracks. Our hearts go out to the victims. But this tragedy should not have happened. It happened because of human error on the part of Metrolink employees. Unfortunately, as the lawyers of RKA know well, human error by railroad engineers is not at all unique as a cause of commuter rail disasters.

Jerome L. Ringler has greater experience in representing victims of commuter rail and freight train disasters than any other lawyer in the State of California, if not the country. He has served as lead counsel in every one of the largest commuter rail disasters which have occurred in Southern California in the past 10 years.

In the Placentia Commuter Rail Disaster of 2003, Mr. Ringler was appointed by the Court as lead counsel for all of the Plaintiffs. He was requested by all of the lawyers representing individuals injured or killed in that incident to try the first case. That case resulted in the largest verdict for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ever rendered by a jury in the United States. That verdict, which was for $9 million, is detailed below in the multimedia section.

In the Burbank Commuter Rail Disaster, which also occurred in 2003, Mr. Ringler was again appointed by the Court to serve as lead counsel. In that capacity he was given the responsibility to try the entire liability (i.e., fault) case for all of the victims. In other words, every one of the dozens of lawyers who represented individual victims in that disaster trusted Mr. Ringler to try the liability phase for them, knowing that their clients would only recover if Mr. Ringler was successful. He was. In fact, Mr. Ringler not only obtained a favorable verdict for all of the plaintiffs, he obtained a $12 million verdict for his own client as well. This verdict was the largest in the State of California for a person with the type of injuries Mr. Ringler's client had suffered. This verdict is detailed below in the multimedia section.

Mr. Ringler is currently lead counsel for all plaintiffs in the Glendale Metrolink Derailment Disaster of 2005. This incident was, before September 12, 2008, the largest Metrolink disaster in history. Interestingly, in that case (which involves 11 deaths and dozens of serious injuries), Mr. Ringler has, against all odds, developed testimony proving that, even though a mentally-ill person placed a jeep across the tracks that the Metrolink train was traveling upon, human error on the part of the Metrolink engineer prevented him from stopping the train before hitting the jeep, which caused the train to derail. In other words, while the jeep certainly never should have been on the tracks, the Metrolink engineer would have been able to stop the train before ever striking the jeep had he only been paying proper attention. That case is scheduled to go to trial on June 8, 2009, with Mr. Ringler as lead counsel.

The verdicts detailed on this page all relate to railroad litigation. However, Mr. Ringler has achieved enormous, record-breaking monetary awards across California in a variety of complex areas. Those accomplishments are detailed elsewhere in this website. To see them, click here.

If you or a loved one has suffered injury or death as a result of the horrific Chatsworth Metrolink Disaster, we are available to discuss your rights with you confidentially and at no charge.

Please feel free to contact us at your convenience. Ask for Mr. Ringler,or any of his partners, at (213) 473-1900.

Train Accident Attorneys

Jerry Ringler Featured on Fox 11 - Metrolink Crash

Train Accident Attorneys

Lawyer, LI political pioneer Neal Capria dead at 66

Neal Capria, an environmental lawyer and a pioneer in Democratic politics who helped bring his party to power in Brookhaven in the 1970s, was found dead in his Port Jefferson Station condominium Tuesday morning. He was 66.

Capria, who last month began work as an aide to the Suffolk legislature, was found in his bed by his son Justin who came by to drive his father to work.

"He was one of the trailblazers," said Richard Schaffer, Suffolk Democratic chairman. "People should know who he was because he is partly responsible for where we are today," referring to recent party victories in the county and various Suffolk towns.

Capria served as part of the Democratic majority on the Brookhaven Town Board from 1978 to 1982. He was the last elected Democratic town board official until the party regained power in 2006. For the past 18 months, Capria worked as an assistant town attorney, but was let go last month when Republicans regained control of the town board.

Von Briesen attorney launches own firm

John Cabaniss, a trial attorney for the Milwaukee law firm von Briesen & Roper SC, is leaving the firm to launch his own practice in Mequon focusing on personal injury cases.
The move will alleviate some of the conflicts of interest that arose while he worked for von Briesen & Roper, said Randall Crocker, president and CEO of the law firm.

"We’ve discovered that John’s practice as a plaintiff’s trial lawyer and the firm’s continued growth in health care, toxic tort defense, management labor and general business has created conflicts of interest that have precluded John from taking the cases that he’s particularly good at," Crocker said in a press release Friday.

Cabaniss concurs.

"Regrettably, a personal injury plaintiff’s practice is, at times, not consistent with a large corporate, health and business law firm,” Cabaniss said.

The new firm will be known as the Cabaniss Law Office and will be at 10200 N. Port Washington Road in Mequon.