Metro Crash Trial Pushed Back To 2012

WASHINGTON - The trial in the suit brought by survivors of those killed in the Metrorail crash on the red line has been pushed back to 2012.

The trial was scheduled for September 2011, but U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton granted a motion to delay the trial four months until January 2012 on Tuesday. The suit names Metro and several other entities, but the extension was requested by two recently added defendants, ARINC and ADCO Circuits.

Walton says he will not grant any further continuances except in the "most extreme extraordinary circumstances." The change was first reported by The Legal Times.

The judge also granted Metro's request for a hearing on Metro's motion to dismiss portions of the suit because it is protected by sovereign immunity. The hearing is set for November.