While driving home on the Ronald Reagan Freeway Friday night to pick up my gal, I observed many helicopters hovering over the area where I live. I decided to turn on KFWB News Radio to find out what was going on. I heard on the news that there had been a horrendous train accident within 1 mile of my home. Apparently a Metrolink commuter train collided head-on with a commercial freight train. It was further announced that the commuter Metrolink train had approximately 225 persons on board.
I grew up in Chatsworth California. I have left the area only a few times throughout my life when I went in the Air Force, lived in San Francisco, and in Hollywood California, but I have always come back home to Chatsworth California.
I not only live in Chatsworth California, but I work as an attorney in Chatsworth California as well. Chatsworth California is my home base for practicing law, and living.
Suffices to say on Friday night the authorities had Desoto Avenue closed, as well as Topanga Canyon Blvd.
As I was traveling west on the Ronald Reagan Freeway, heading towards home, I heard chilling eyewitness accounts of the carnage that took place during and after the train wreck, by way of accounts eyewitnesses on KFWB News Radio.
I was unable to get off of the freeway at my normal exit, and had to double back in Simi Valley, and exit at Tampa Avenue, to try to get home. I eventually had to call the Los Angeles police department Devonshire division to find out how I could get home in my car. There were literally hundreds of firefighters and police officers all over my neighborhood. I felt extreme grief for the victims of the train accident; however I also needed to get home as well. I was finally able to get home at approximately 10:00 PM Friday night.
Once at home, I watched the live local news accounts of the carnage that ensued in the Metrolink train accident. It made me sick to hear of all the people that died in the train accident, and all the people that were injured in the train accident. You must understand, as a child growing up in Chatsworth California, my friends and I used to play on the train tracks precisely where the Metrolink train accident happened. Furthermore, we used to walk through the tunnel close to where the accident occurred all the time. It is all part of the famous Chatsworth Park area where I live.
As a lifelong resident of Chatsworth California, I would like to send my prayers and condolences to the family members of all the victims of the Chatsworth Metrolink train crash, as well as to all of those were injured in the train accident.
On a more disturbing note, I have read numerous stories about the Chatsworth Metrolink train accident, on what I will call “bottom dweller” personal injury attorney blogs. Some of these stories were literally posted on the evening of the train accident. On the bottom of these blog entries, these bottom dwellers have the nerve to sign their story with “Chatsworth train accident attorney.” Not one of these attorneys lives or works in Chatsworth California. One of them is from downtown Los Angeles. It appears that the only reason they wrote their story, or plagiarized it from a reputable news source, is to try to get some of the victims of the Chatsworth train accident to sign up with their law firm. Maybe they were hoping that their name would come up in some kind of Internet search, I don’t know. I feel that this kind of behavior is unethical, immoral, and despicable. Heck, if given the chance, some of these attorneys would have probably been illegally passing out business cards at the scene of the train accident.
If you are a family member of one of the persons who died in the train accident, or were injured in the Chatsworth Metrolink train accident, do not under any circumstances retain one of the bottom dweller attorneys that call themselves Chatsworth train accident attorneys, or would write a story, or “have their marketing company” write a story on the evening of the accident. It is disgraceful.
Because this accident occurred so close to where I live, and in an area where I played as a kid growing up, and where I personally practice law, my law firm will hereby make the following offer to any family member of one of the deceased victims of the Chatsworth Metrolink train accident, or persons injured in the Chatsworth Metrolink train accident: the law offices of Norman Gregory Fernandez and Associates will reduce our contingency fee rate to 25% for all claims that are settled in pre-litigation. This offer only applies to family members and victims of the Chatsworth Metrolink train accident.
You may call my law firm at 800-816-1529 extension #1 for a free consultation, or go to my personal injury website at www.thepersonalinjury.com to read more about my firm.
If you or your family were a victim of the Chatsworth Metrolink train accident, and retain our firm at the reduced rate of 25% contingency fee for all claims that are settled in pre-litigation, we will immediately send our investigator out to you to sign you up to make things more convenient for you.
I must stress one thing that is very important; you have only six months from the date of the accident, September 12, 2008, to file a claim against Metrolink. I have handled many cases against the Los Angeles County Metropolitan transit Authority. Trust me, you must act fast. If your claim is not filed within six months, you most probably will lose your right to recover compensatory damages in this case.
God be with you.
By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., a real Chatsworth California train accident attorney, © 2008
