MTA Reportedly Agrees to Pay $5 Million in Subway Worker’s Death

A settlement reportedly in excess of $5 million was reached Wednesday in a lawsuit brought against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by the family of a subway worker who was killed on the job in Hollywood last year.

Attorney Patrick McNicholas, who is representing the family of Jaime Pasillas, confirmed that a settlement was reached but declined to disclose the terms, citing a confidentiality agreement.

Pasillas, 52, was crushed to death by a refuse bin containing more than two tons of material. The bin broke free of a chain as it was being hauled out of a Hollywood subway tunnel and struck him.

Pasillas was the first of three subway workers killed, last year, the first deaths in the 10-year history of the region’s largest public works project.

McNicholas said the settlement gives Pasillas’ widow and four children, ages 15 through 29, “an opportunity to move forward with their lives.”

The district attorney’s office earlier this year charged an employee of the subway contractor with state labor code violations in connection with Pasillas’ death.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health last year cited contractor Tutor-Saliba-Perini for 14 violations of worker safety laws and imposed fines of $70,500.