A federal judge on Wednesday approved a $600 million class-action settlement Wednesday that Norfolk Southern railroad offered to everyone who lived within 20 miles (32 kilometers) of last year’s disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
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. Only 370 households and 47 businesses opted out.
Those who did object to the deal were vocal in their concerns that 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.
WTF is $11K in the face of decimated property values, a ruined ecology, and a gigantic question mark for the personal health of anybody within miles of ground zero?
What a slap in the face. I’d be jihadi-levels of pissed off.
That’s less than $11k per claim but a large chunk of that will be eaten up by the lawyers. It honestly needs to be at least an order of magnitude higher.
From the article: “Anyone who lived within 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of the derailment can get up to $70,000 per household for property damage plus up to $25,000 per person for health problems. The payments drop off the farther people lived from the derailment down to as little as a few hundred dollars at the outer edges.”
My parents and my brother live in the 2-4 mile range and when they got their paperwork it was up to $45,000 per household.
So the money isn’t divided equally between the 55,000 claims.
Good day to be a lawyer I suppose, and anyone in East Palestine who likes $3
When my parents and my brother received their paperwork it was a different amount depending on how close you are to the wreckage site. 2-4 miles away was initially listed as $45,000.
$600 million / 55,000 claims = ~$10,000
Not a great deal imo but not exactly $3 either
You do know the lawyer is gonna take a huge chunk of that right?
÷ 2 = ~$5,000
… after the layers get their half.
