The state of Nevada is being released from the lawsuits filed by people injured when a tractor-trailer rig slammed into an Amtrak train near Fernley.
The accident happened in June 2011 some 70 miles east of Reno, killing a half-dozen or more, including the truck driver, and injuring more than two dozen other passengers.
According to Dennis Gallagher, lawyer for the Nevada Department of Transportation, the state was named as a defendant in nine lawsuits involving a couple of dozen victims.
“We are in the process of getting dismissed out, I hope, of all of them,” he told the transportation board Monday.
Gallagher said after the meeting that the state has been released from several of the lawsuits and that he has verbal commitments to drop Nevada from the others.
The truck, one of three in a convoy, was traveling at high speed as it approached the railroad crossing. Witnesses said the driver attempted to stop but was unable to. Investigators found skid marks more than 300 feet long on the road. Two train cars burst into flames, as did the truck.
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