$11.8 MILLION VERDICT RETURNED IN TRUCK-TRAIN SUIT.

Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer

PASADENA -- A former Newhall attorney crippled when a Metrolink train crashed into a movie-studio truck that drove onto the tracks was awarded $11.8 million from Universal Studios.

A Pasadena jury awarded the money Friday to Jennifer Kilpatrick, who must use a walker or a wheelchair because of the injuries she suffered in January 2003 when the train derailed after plowing at 80 mph into the truck at a Burbank intersection.

Kilpatrick, who was on her way to work when the crash happened, now lives in Las Vegas.

The jury award was announced by Kilpatrick's attorney, Los Angeles attorney Jerome Ringler, who is also lead counsel representing passengers injured in Metrolink crashes in Glendale and Placentia.

Universal Studios officials declined to comment on Friday.

Metrolink previously settled with Kilpatrick and some two dozen other injured passengers in an agreement whose terms are confidential. Another passenger, 76-year-old Grace Kirkness of Santa Clarita, died in a hospital 15 days after the crash.

Universal Studios in court said the crash was the result of what a federal investigation called ``confusing'' traffic signals and roadway where the Metrolink tracks pass the intersection of Buena Vista Street and San Fernando Road.

Truck driver Jacek Wysocki, who was employed by a Universal subsidiary and was killed in the crash, had stopped for a red left-turn arrow at the intersection, the National Transportation Safety Board said. Then he drove onto the tracks when the arrow began to flash at the train's approach, the NTSB said.