Metro accidents can leave you with physical injuries, financial burdens and emotional trauma. Having a Washington, DC Metro accident lawyer on your side can help ensure you get maximum compensation. Regan Zambri Long’s attorneys will give you clarity on your options, help you understand what your claim may be worth, and provide the resources to fight large entities like the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).
We have consistently been named among the Best Law Firms in America, with almost 200 years of combined experience in representing victims in complex transportation cases. Our board certified partners have acted as lead counsel in litigation arising from major WMATA incidents like the 2009 Red Line collision and the 2015 L’Enfant Plaza smoke event. This experience gives our Metro accident attorneys a clear understanding of how investigations unfold and what evidence matters most. Our firm has secured over $1 billion in settlements and verdicts for personal injury clients and has earned more than 100 5 star Google reviews from individuals and families we have helped.
Have you been injured in a Metro accident in Washington, DC? Contact Regan Zambri Long today, and one of our attorneys will personally call you back. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and there’s no fee unless we win your case.
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When you are injured in an accident, your primary focus should be recovery. However, the legal aspects must be addressed. Evidence needs to be collected, witness accounts must be recorded, and your injuries should be properly documented. All of these are critical for building a solid case, and they require the expertise of a seasoned Metro accident lawyer. Metro customers made 264 million trips in the 2025 financial year, including 139 million rail trips, which shows how heavily the system is used every day.
Metro’s 2024 Safety Management System Update Report documented 20 passenger injuries and six employee injuries. When accidents occur on a system this heavily used, the consequences can be serious, which is why clear documentation and experienced legal guidance remain essential.
Regan Zambri Long has the resources, experience, and skills to protect your claim and fight for the compensation you deserve.
WMATA claims are different from standard personal injury cases because Metro operates under an interstate compact between Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. This compact affects how claims are handled, what law applies, and whether WMATA can be held liable for the type of conduct involved.
In a typical injury case, the focus is usually on proving negligence and showing the full extent of the victim’s damages. In a WMATA case, those issues still matter, but the location of the accident and the nature of the claim can also affect the legal path forward. A rider injured at a Virginia station may face different procedural issues than someone injured on a DC platform or a Metro train in Maryland.
The WMATA Compact also raises questions of sovereign immunity , a legal doctrine that protects government entities from being sued unless they have agreed to allow certain claims. For WMATA, that means the case may turn on whether the injury was tied to an operational failure, such as unsafe maintenance or day-to-day transit activity, or a protected governmental decision involving planning, policy, or system management. Depending on where the injury occurred, state or District law may also affect damages issues, including whether any cap or limitation applies.
Because these cases involve more than ordinary negligence rules, it is important to identify where the accident happened, how it occurred, and which legal requirements apply.
Early legal involvement matters because much of the evidence needed to prove these claims is controlled by WMATA. This can include:
This evidence can be critical in showing how the accident happened, whether there were prior safety concerns, and whether proper procedures were followed before and after the incident. A personal injury claim may depend on details that are not immediately available to the injured person, especially when the records are held internally by WMATA.
Waiting to contact an attorney can create more than a deadline problem. It can also create an evidence problem. Video footage may be overwritten, records may become harder to locate, and witness accounts can become less reliable over time. In WMATA cases, an attorney will need to send formal preservation requests, identify the specific categories of evidence that must be retained, and follow the procedures required to put the right parties on notice.
These steps are important because spoliation, or the loss, destruction, or alteration of evidence that should have been preserved, can become an issue if requests are not made promptly. Early legal action helps reduce that risk. It creates a clearer record of what evidence was requested, when the request was made, and why the material is important to the claim.
Victims deserve compensation because they have suffered losses that were not their fault. The law recognizes this disruption and believes that you should be “made whole” again, to the extent that money can do so. Compensation is a way to ensure that the burden of the accident doesn’t fall entirely on the innocent victim.
Your Metro Accident Attorney may pursue the following types of damages:
At Regan Zambri Long, we understand the intricacies of compensation claims in Metro accidents. We work diligently to calculate a realistic estimate of all your damages, not just the immediate ones. Our lawyers consult with medical professionals, occupational therapists, and even economists to understand the full scope of your losses. We then aggressively negotiate with insurance companies and are prepared to take your case to court to ensure you get the compensation you deserve.
At Regan Zambri Long, we take a personalized approach to each case. We take the time to understand how the accident has affected you and your family. Our personal injury lawyers are fearless in pursuing large entities and have a track record of securing multimillion-dollar settlements and verdicts for our clients.
Our board-certified partners served as lead counsel in litigation arising from the 2009 Red Line collision and the 2015 L’Enfant Plaza smoke incident, experience that directly informs how we approach WMATA claims today.
All six partners appear on the Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers list, and our leadership reflects decades of work in serious transportation cases. Salvatore Zambri is ranked among the Top 10 Super Lawyers in Washington, DC, while Pat Regan and Paul Cornoni are listed among the Top 100. Pat and Sal’s professional involvement includes having acted as President of the DC Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates and, in Pat’s case, election as a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers. These distinctions speak to the depth of experience our team brings to Metro injury claims.
Contact us for a free consultation today, and let us fight for the justice you deserve.