Some residents of East Palestine, Ohio, want more time and more information before they face a deadline this week to decide whether to accept their share of a $600 million settlement with Norfolk Southern over last year’s devastating train derailment.
However, it is unclear whether the judge will rule on their request before Thursday’s deadline for people living within 20 miles of the derailment to file a lawsuit.
Residents living within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of the Feb. 3, 2023 crash near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border will also have to decide whether to accept up to $25,000 per person for personal injuries, although by accepting that money they would give up the right to sue later if someone develops cancer or another serious illness as a result of chemical exposure.
The amount of compensation depends on how close residents lived to the derailment. People living within 2 miles will receive $70,000 in compensation for property damage. People living on the outskirts of the area may only receive a few hundred dollars.
One of the main allegations in the motion filed by attorney David Graham is that the attorneys representing residents in the lawsuit failed to disclose results of tests conducted throughout the city by their own expert, Stephen Petty, who has testified in hundreds of lawsuits over contamination concerns. Petty had been trying to determine the extent of the contamination caused by the leaking and burning of toxic chemicals following the derailment.
Some of the lawyers involved in the case promised residents in interviews early in the case that Petty’s data would be released in court filings to show the impact on eastern Palestine. Graham therefore asked the judge to order the release of this information to address residents’ concerns.
“Looking at their current post-settlement posture, it is clear that the class action plaintiffs and their PR machine have completely forgotten about their star testing expert, Petty,” Graham wrote.
Instead of Petty, the lawyers brought in another expert at an online town hall meeting a few weeks ago, who told residents he did not believe anyone in town would get cancer as a result of the derailment. But Dr. Arch Carson did not make clear what data he was basing that opinion on, other than a brief mention of Environmental Protection Agency testing.
Researchers studying the health of residents in the area and tracking the respiratory problems, rashes and other complaints they report say the long-term effects of the derailment may not be clear for several years.
“I completely disagree with Dr. Arch Carson. There is no research data to suggest that what he is saying is correct,” said Dr. Erin Haynes, who leads one of the city’s major studies and is chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health at the University of Kentucky’s College of Public Health.
Graham suspected that the plaintiffs’ lawyers might be more interested in collecting up to $180 million in legal fees than in representing the interests of local residents.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to the motion Monday, but previously defended the settlement announced in the spring. They said the settlement was higher than any previously disclosed derailment settlement and the time given to residents to evaluate the deal was similar to other settlements.
Some residents have complained that the original opt-out deadline in the lawsuit expired less than a week after the National Transportation Safety Board held a hearing on the results of the investigation.
