Alabama Injury Attorneys Blog

The husband of Zoila Tellez, 44, was awarded a $22.5 million settlement after a train derailment killed his wife and unborn grandchild.

Jose Tellez, 40, of Rockford was traveling with his wife and daughter when a Canadian National Company Train derailed in June 2009. The Tellez family was waiting for the 114 car train to pass through an intersection when the explosion occurred.

The train, containing 18 cars full of flammable ethanol, derailed right before the intersection. Creating a massive explosion, the derailment casued a "massive fire ball" to spin off that would consume the Tellez vehicle. Jose Tellez and his wife, Zoila, were engulfed in the flames and forced to evacuate their vehicle. Jose was severely burned from the explosion that killed his wife and unborn grandchild.

Jose and Zoila's pregnant daughter was traveling with them at the time of the accident. The daughter was 6 ½ months pregnant and awarded $13.75 million after losing her unborn child as a result of the accident.

The wrongful death lawsuit named three railroads: The Canadian National Railway Company, Central & Pacific Railroad Company and the Illinois Central Railroad Company. Alleging negligence, the injury attorneys claimed the company failed to maintain and inspect their tracks. According the personal injury lawyers representing the Tellez family, the railroad was notified 20 minutes before derailment from a 911-command center that a portion of the track was washed out. Instead of slowing down, eye-witness testimony stated the train's engineer actually sped up before derailing the train.

The survivors of the railroad crash explosion include Jose, and Zoila's daughters: Adriana, Lisette, Cristal, and Elvira.