Wells Fargo Executive's Family Sues Following Death in Amtrak Crash

Family members of a Rockville executive with Wells Fargo who died in a May Amtrak train crash have filed a lawsuit claiming negligence and reckless endangerment on the part of the rail service.

Abid Gilani was killed when the train he was riding in, traveling from Washington to New York, crashed, killing eight and injuring 146 people in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia.

The fatalities included Justin Zemser, 20, a student from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis; Gildersleeve of Elkridge, vice president for corporate accounts for Ecolab in Towson; and Gilani, a senior vice president at Wells Fargo, Patch previously reported.

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There were about 238 passengers and five crew members on board the Amtrak train that derailed May 12.

The train was traveling 106 mph going into a turn that has a 50 mph speed limit, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The engineer applied the brakes three seconds before the derailment.

The Gilani family’s lawsuit claims Amtrak officials knew the curve was dangerous since another fatal derailment happened at the site in 1943. The lawsuit also says that Amtrak failed to use available safety technologies in order to save money, putting passenger lives at risk, reports WTOP.

Among the safety measures not in place on that northbound stretch of track is Automated Train Control, which manually slows trains.

According to court records, the Gilani family is seeking more than $300,000 in damages.

A wrongful death lawsuit filed in June to the Gildersleev family accuses Amtrak of negligence and outrageous conduct, according to WBAL. The lawyer for Gildersleeve’s widow said this was a “grotesquely excessive speed that cost the lives and limbs of others,” according to the Daily Times, which reports the family seeks compensation for funeral and medical expenses and loss of the family’s breadwinner.

»Photo of Amtrak train crash from @PatrickMurphyPA, Channel 10 video