The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has picked a legal team to represent it in the lawsuits stemming from the deadly June 22 metro crash.
Partners William Gandy and Robert Wallace of Philadelphia-based Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker are leading WMATA’s defense efforts with the help of Thomas Tobin, a partner in the firm’s White Plains, N.Y. office, according to Wallace. Gandy and Wallace practice in Wilson Elser’s McLean, Va. and Washington offices, respectively.
Wallace would not explain how his firm picked up the litigation. His firm bio says his practice focuses on international law and litigation, as well as domestic cases involving construction, property owners, contractors and designers. Gandy, who has handled litigation for Catholic University, “concentrates on the defense of catastrophic personal injury cases,” while Tobin is “frequently involved in commercial and casualty litigation involving the railroad industry,” according to their bios.
All seven of the suits filed against Metro so far have been consolidated before Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Wallace declined to discuss any of the cases. “I don’t want to try this case in the press,” he said. Metro did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
Alstom Signaling, the maker of the traffic control equipment which allegedly malfunctioned in the crash and a defendant in one of the suits, has hired Winston & Strawn partner Timothy Broas, a litigator in Washington who focuses on “white-collar criminal defense, securities litigation, corporate internal investigations, and congressional investigations,” according to his firm. He represented Neil Volz, chief of staff to ex-Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), during the Jack Abramoff investigation.
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