WASHINGTON -- More than three years after a woman died from smoke inhalation onboard a crippled Metro train, her family's wrongful death suit against the transit agency has been settled.
The sons of 61-year-old Carol Glover filed a $50 million dollar lawsuit only weeks after the January 12, 2015 incident in a tunnel near L'Enfant Plaza. Thursday, Metro confirmed a settlement in the suit. The amount of the settlement has not been released.
The suit said Glover "fought, ever more agonizingly, to breathe as the smoke gradually sapped the life from her body."
The incident was Metro's first passenger fatality since 2009 and spurred the start of a system-wide safety overhaul.
The National Transportation Safety Board said that the probable cause of the electrical arcing and smoke accident was a prolonged short circuit that consumed power system components. Federal investigators pointed to "ineffective inspection and maintenance practices" as well as well as problems with tunnel ventilation systems.
Federal investigators issued 29 safety recommendations-- some as a direct result of the 2015 incident-- and Metro has completed about half.
Attorneys representing brothers Anthony and Marcus Glover could not be reached for comment Thursday.
