FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 12, 2011
Contact: Tom Pfeifer, (202) 225-5811
Gallegly asks Veolia executives for courtesy of response to teen
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly today sent a letter to Veolia Environnement executives at the company’s offices in France asking them to respond to a teenager in Camarillo whose father was killed in the September 12, 2008, Metrolink crash.
Mackenzie Souser was 13 when her 56-year-old father, Doyle Souser, was among the 24 innocent passengers killed when the engineer employed by a unit of Veolia ran a red light and crashed head-on into a freight train because the engineer was texting at the time. Another 135 passengers were severely injured.
On June 15, Mackenzie wrote Veolia Environnement Chairman and CEO Antoine Frérot and Senior Executive Vice President Denis Gasquet, and Veolia Transdev/Veolia Transport CEO Jérôme Gallot, seeking a “short, personal meeting” to discuss fair compensation for the victims. She followed up with another letter on Monday.
“I am disappointed that Veolia has not even shown Ms. Souser the courtesy of a response. As leaders of a corporation who espouse the values of safety and accountability, I believe it is critically important for you to personally meet with Ms. Souser,” Gallegly wrote to Frérot.
More than 2½ years after the crash, Veolia created a fund for $200 million – the cap on rail accidents proscribed by U.S. federal law.
At a hearing on May 31, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman, who must determine the compensation for each victim, stated on the record that the damages from this crash already exceeded $230 million and he estimated that damages will reach at least $240 million before hearings are completed.
To date, Veolia has declined to pay any funds to the victims over and above the $200 million statutory cap. That means taxpayers will probably have to foot most of the victims’ bills once their personal insurance runs out.
Some victims will never work again. Some will never walk again. One young woman was studying to be a doctor. Part of her brain had to be removed. Everyday people just riding the train home from work have had their lives terribly altered forever.
Gallegly, whose district is home to most of the 2008 Veolia victims, has publicly called on Veolia to take full responsibility for the devastation caused by this terrible train crash and to do the right thing by those victims who have already lost so much. He has met with victims and Veolia executives together and separately.
He and Mackenzie testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials on March 17. On Monday, he and 17 members of the California congressional delegation sent a bipartisan letter to Frérot urging adequate and fair compensation to the victims.
Veolia’s website claims it is committed worldwide to “Accountability, especially in Safety.”
“Veolia should hold itself fully accountable for this tragic crash and should pay the real lifetime damages to the victims because it is the right thing to do,” Gallegly said.
Related content: Letters to Veolia; Key Issue: Fair Compensation for Metrolink Victims.
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