Appeal delays $600 million class action settlement payments in fiery Ohio derailment

Payment checks related to Norfolk Southern catastrophic derailment in 2023 could now be delayed for up to two years due to an appeal from a federal judge decision last week to approve the A $600 million deal has been filed, attorneys in the case said Monday.

Many residents of East Palestine, Ohio, expressed outrage at the call, saying it will delay the payments they had been counting on to help them recover from the toxic train crash that disrupted their lives when dangerous chemicals spilled into their community. Some people planned to use the money to move.

People in the city frustrated that they are not getting their money right away lashed out at the Rev. Joseph Sheely and began threatening him and his wife Monday because his name was on the appeal. Sheely challenged the settlement this summer but now says he does not want to play any role in the appeal.

“I was trying to do something for the people of East Palestine, including myself,” Sheely said. “But it seems like they don’t want anyone to do anything. They just want the money. And so I’m done. I’m so done with it.”

Plaintiffs’ lawyers had hoped to start sending out the first checks before the end of the year, but that won’t happen because the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will first have to address concerns about whether the deal provides enough compensation and whether residents get enough information to decide whether it is fair.

“We will do everything in our power to resolve this appeal quickly and prevent further burdens on residents and local businesses who want to move on and rebuild their lives,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a statement. This person is substituting their judgment for the entire community that wants this arrangement, and instead of opting out, they have gone down this path.”

The lawyers estimate that the payments will be delayed for at least six to 12 months while the appeals court considers the appeal filed Friday, but that they could be delayed even longer if the case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court or is returned for additional procedures. in Judge Benita Pearson’s court.

Sheely’s lawyer, David Graham, said the statement from the plaintiff’s lawyers only served to put more pressure on his client and fuel the threats.

“Their reckless statements have put my client in danger and made my client feel unsafe in his own community,” Graham said.

The settlement provided payments of up to $70,000 per household for property damage and up to $25,000 per person for injuries to those living within two miles of the derailment. Payments would decrease significantly further, with only a few hundred dollars offered to people living closer to the 20-mile distance limit.

The appeal will not increase the $162 million in legal fees and $18 million in costs that the judge awarded to the plaintiff’s lawyers last week unless the deal is quashed and new fees are awarded as part of the case.

Residents Post “Eastern Palestine Derailed!” Facebook group accused the pastor who filed the appeal of being greedy, saying one of his objections to the deal is frustration that all payments residents have received since the railroad derailment to temporarily relocate or replace damaged property will be deducted from any settlement they receive. Some characterized that as a desire to be compensated twice for the derailment.

But the few people who have objected to the deal have said they have deeper concerns. They have said they don’t know the full extent of the chemicals they were exposed to because the plaintiff’s attorneys declined to make public what their expert discovered when he tested in the city and because the Environmental Protection Agency does not make public everything it knows about the extent of the ongoing contagion.

The city of East Palestine continues to exist deeply divided about the derailment, with some residents eager to move on and put the disaster behind them, while others are still dealing with it unexplained health problems can’t see how to do that. The dispute over the appeal in the class action case only deepens the divisions.