East Palestine Train Crash: Norfolk Southern Sued After Releasing Cancer-Causing Chemical Into Environment [UPDATE]
Last Updated on July 29, 2024
Canterbury et al. v. Norfolk Southern Corporation et al.
Filed: February 15, 2023 ◆§ 4:23-cv-00298
A class action says Norfolk Southern has discharged more cancer-causing vinyl chloride into the environment in the wake of the East Palestine, OH train crash than all industrial emitters combined in 2021.
June 18, 2024 – East Palestine Train Crash Settlement Website Is Live
The official website for the East Palestine train crash settlement is live and can be found at EastPalestineTrainSettlement.com.
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Individuals covered by the settlement can submit a claim for direct payment here, and businesses can submit a claim for business losses here. To submit a personal injury claim, head to this page.
To file an individual, business or personal injury claim online, you will need your class member ID, which can be found in the settlement notice you received.
If you are unsure whether you are covered by the deal, a list of eligible addresses within 20 miles of the derailment site is available here.
Claim forms must be filed by August 22, 2024.
The settlement site says payments should start to go out around December 2024 if the deal receives final approval from the court.
Related Reading: East Palestine Train Derailment Settlement
“But there may be appeals,” the site reads. “It is always uncertain whether these appeals can be resolved, and resolving them can take time, perhaps more than a year.”
More details on the settlement, including what kind of benefits it will provide, can be found in the update below.
Are you owed unclaimed settlement money? Check out our class action rebates page full of open class action settlements.
May 29, 2024 – Judge Preliminarily Approves $600M East Palestine Train Crash Settlement
On May 21, 2024, United States District Judge Benita Y. Pearson granted preliminary approval to a $600 million settlement to resolve class action lawsuits filed against Norfolk Southern over the toxic East Palestine train derailment in February 2023.
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According to court documents, the deal covers anyone who lived, worked, owned property or owned or operated a business within 20 miles of the derailment site from February 3, 2023 to April 26, 2024.
To get a share of the settlement fund, class members must submit a claim form by mail; in person at the claims assistance center at 191 East Rebecca Street, East Palestine; or online when the official settlement website—EastPalestineTrainSettlement.com—goes live.
ClassAction.org will update this page when the settlement website is launched, so be sure to check back often.
The deadline to file a claim is August 22, 2024.
A memo submitted in support of the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval says that eligible individuals who submit a valid, timely claim will receive payments for all class action claims, including nuisance, trespass, property damage/diminution, medical monitoring and mental or emotional injury or harm.
Payments will be pro-rated and, for households within one to 10 miles of the crash site, calculated using a point-grading system that will consider factors like geographic location, household size, acreage, length of displacement and the nature of property damage. Payments for households 10 to 20 miles from the incident will not be tallied using a points system, court documents state.
Class members who were physically located within 10 miles of the derailment site can also file a claim for personal injury payments, and qualifying businesses can file a claim to receive compensation for business losses stemming from the train derailment.
A final approval hearing is scheduled for September 25, 2024. Payments from the deal should begin to go out to eligible class members if and when the East Palestine train derailment settlement receives final approval from the court, and after any appeals are addressed.
Are you owed unclaimed settlement money? Check out our class action rebates page full of open class action settlements.
April 12, 2024 – $600M Norfolk Southern Settlement Ends East Palestine Train Crash Lawsuits
Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million to end class action lawsuits filed over the catastrophic February 2023 train crash and toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.
Don’t miss out on settlement news like this. Sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.
The plaintiffs and Norfolk Southern submitted on April 9, 2024, a four-page notice of settlement agreement and motion to pause all deadlines in the consolidated litigation, wherein they informed the court that the proposed $600 million deal would resolve all class action claims within a 20-mile radius of the derailment.
The parties also stated that the settlement would resolve personal injury claims for residents within a 10-mile radius of the derailment and who choose to participate in the settlement.
In light of the Norfolk Southern settlement, the parties jointly asked the court to pause all obligations and deadlines in the litigation, pending the filing of preliminary and final settlement approval motions.
Per the notice, the $600 million settlement would also resolve proposed class members’ claims against several third-party railcar lessors of their alleged parts in the derailment.
If approved, the settlement would cover claims from covered residents for lost income, property damage, workplace and home contamination, and the increased risk of potentially fatal illnesses requiring ongoing medical monitoring, court documents share.
The document states that the plaintiffs expect to file a motion for preliminary settlement approval no later than April 19, 2024.
ClassAction.org will update this page should more details of the proposed settlement be made available.
Are you owed unclaimed settlement money? Check out our class action rebates page full of open class action settlements.
The latest proposed class action over the catastrophic East Palestine, Ohio train derailment alleges operator Norfolk Southern has discharged more cancer-causing vinyl chloride into the environment in one week than all industrial emitters combined in 2021.
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The 28-page suit explains that vinyl chloride is a highly combustible, DNA-mutating chemical for which there is no safe level of exposure. According to the case, five of the 50 railcars that were derailed or damaged were full of vinyl chloride gas, among other flammable and combustible materials that eventually ignited amid the wreckage and burned for days.
According to the lawsuit, vinyl chloride is persistent in the environment and can leach into groundwater when dumped directly onto soil. Rather than properly contain and clean up its mess, Norfolk Southern chose instead to set the wreckage on fire, igniting one million-plus pounds of chemicals in a pit that burned for days and covered proposed class members “in a large plume of thick black smoke.”
The problem with igniting vinyl chloride, the case relays, is that it creates phosgene gas, a “chemical warfare agent banned under the Geneva Convention” and responsible for roughly 85,000 deaths in World War I.
“As a result of Norfolk Southern’s decision to ignite a million pound chemical burn pit, and subject surrounding communities to chemical warfare agents instead of cleaning up its mess, Plaintiffs and Class Members have been exposed to toxic and noxious chemicals,” the suit summarizes.
The lawsuit stresses that East Palestine residents who were exposed to the gas—more than 1.1 million pounds of which was dumped into the environment to relieve pressure in several of the railcars that crashed on February 3—“may already be undergoing DNA mutations that may not manifest as a clinical cancer diagnosis for years or decades.” Some have already reported experiencing irritation to their throats, eyes, lungs and lips, the case adds.
“This situation would never have occurred if not for failure on top of failure by Norfolk Southern,” the complaint scathes, alleging the train—Train 32N—should never have been operated “in such a reckless manner” whereby its wheel bearings could fail and cause a derailment.
Norfolk Southern’s apparent “run it until it breaks” operational philosophy is in part to blame for the catastrophe earlier this month when Freight Train 32N, traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania and carrying hazardous and combustible materials, derailed due to an overheated wheel bearing, the case argues. At least 12 cars filled with dangerous chemicals breached, spilling hundreds of thousands of pounds of hazardous substances into the environment, the suit says.
Per the case, at least one of the emergency relief valves in the railcars containing vinyl chloride failed, and by February 5, two days after the crash, temperature and pressure build-up in the tanks posed an imminent risk of explosion. After residents were cleared from the area and out of the potential blast zone, Norfolk Southern “blew holes into the cars and drained the contents into a crude ditch,” discharging more than a million pounds of vinyl chloride, the suit says, calling the move “incredibly reckless.”
One substance created by burning vinyl chloride, phosgene gas, is colorless, “smells like moldy hay” and is six times deadlier than chlorine gas, the lawsuit says. Phosgene gas is “the most dangerous of the choking agents banned by the Geneva Convention,” and in low concentrations, the gas can severely irritate the eyes and respiratory organs, the suit shares.
The lawsuit looks to provide money for medical monitoring and other damages on behalf of all natural persons who resided, owned property, or worked within a 30-mile radius of 1020 East Taggart Street, East Palestine, Ohio, 44413, as of February 3, 2023.
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