Residents Near Ohio Derailment Awarded $600M

In February 2023, a train carrying 100,000 gallons of hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, OH, sending black plumes into the sky for days.

A federal judge has approved a $600 million class-action settlement Wednesday that Norfolk Southern railroad offered to everyone who lived within 20 miles of last year’s disastrous derailment, AP News reported.

Judge Benita Pearson gave the deal final approval after a hearing where the lawyers who negotiated it with the railroad argued that residents overwhelmingly supported it, attorneys for the residents and railroad spokesperson Heather Garcia told The Associated Press. Roughly 55,000 claims were filed, and 370 households along with 47 businesses opted out.

Those who did object to the deal feel the settlement won’t provide enough and that the deal was rushed through so quickly that they can’t possibly know what the potential health impact from the derailment will be. They say it’s hard to know all the risks, given the way test results have been reported by the EPA and the fact that the lawyers haven’t disclosed everything they learned in their investigation.

The residents and businesses that objected had hoped the judge would order the plaintiff’s lawyers to release the tests their own expert did after the derailment and address their concerns about a toxicologist who told them at one of the lawyers’ town meetings that they shouldn’t worry because he doesn’t think anyone will develop cancer. That angered residents who have been complaining about unexplained ailments since the derailment and talking with doctors who are conducting studies to try to determine what the health impacts will be. Experts say it’s too soon to know the health impacts.

The judge’s approval clears the way for payments to start going out quickly.

Less than one month after the derailment disaster, OH Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown introduced the Railway Safety Act in the Senate. The bill is designed to hold big railroad companies accountable. A new railroad safety bill in 2024 was introduced by Chairman Troy E. Nehls and Congressman Seth Moulton in July as well.