Federal judge asked to review objections to Norfolk Southern’s bill

Federal judge asked to consider objections to Norfolk Southern’s settlement deadline

Legend

People seeking more time to review Norfolk Southern’s $600 million settlement offer for the derailment have filed objections in federal court.

Residents who lived within 20 miles of the Feb. 3, 2023, violent derailment in East Palestine had until Monday to notify attorneys involved in a lawsuit whether they wanted to opt out of the settlement and pursue their own legal path.

Some people who might be entitled to a share of the settlement have filed objections, including 36 families who hired attorney Daniel Abraham to file their objections.

A statement of objections filed by Abraham lists 15 reasons why his clients oppose the July 1 withdrawal deadline, including that they feel they are being forced to make a decision before they have enough information and before enough time has passed for symptoms and injuries caused by the spill and fumes from the derailment to become apparent.

Some opponents believe that compensation should be given to each individual, not per household as the agreement provides.

Other objections are listed below:

Emotional distress was not properly assessed.

The attorneys’ fees that Class Counsel is expected to seek from the total settlement proceeds will significantly reduce the funds available to Class Members and result in inadequate payments to Class Members for their damages.

The railway company is not being penalised sufficiently for the extent of the damage caused by the incident.

The settlement amount is not sufficient to compensate every person injured and affected by the incident.

Class counsel have negotiated a personal injury settlement for claims outside the scope of their representation as class counsel.

We are being forced into a class action lawsuit and have had multiple attorneys represent me even though we/I have already hired an attorney to do so, resulting in two attorney fees. All attorney fees are to be paid from the gross settlement fee.

Class Counsel is compensated for the portions of the settlement paid for personal injuries, for which Class Counsel does not represent us/me and for which we/I have already retained our own individual attorney to pursue those claims.

There is no medical surveillance program to protect the interests of class members and non-class members.

Since the details of the class action attorney fees have not been submitted, we/I reserve the right to raise additional objections after reviewing the class action attorney fees and costs request.

Failure to disclose “confidential” terms of the settlement to class members.

Failure to provide a grid indicating the criteria used to determine the amount distributed to each member of the group.

The release associated with this class settlement agreement should be limited to defendants who pay compensation in this class action.

Others have also filed objections. As of Wednesday, Norfolk Southern had not yet filed a response in court. 21 News has reached out to the railroad’s media relations department and is awaiting a response.