Judge approves $600 million settlement following violent Ohio train derailment

A federal judge on Wednesday approved a $600 million class-action settlement that Norfolk Southern offered to everyone who lived within 20 miles of last year’s disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

Judge Benita Pearson gave final approval to the deal after a hearing in which lawyers who negotiated it with the railroad argued that residents overwhelmingly supported it, attorneys for the residents and railroad spokeswoman Heather Garcia told The Associated Press. About 55,000 applications were filed. Only 370 households and 47 businesses opted out.

Those who opposed the settlement have been vocal in their concerns that the deal will not provide enough relief and that it was reached so quickly that they cannot know what the potential health impact of the derailment will be. They say it is difficult to know all the risks, given the way the test results were reported by the EPA and the fact that attorneys have not disclosed everything they learned during their investigation.

The judge’s approval clears the way for payments to be made quickly. Lawyers had previously said they hoped to receive the first checks in the mail before the end of the year.

Anyone living within 2 miles of the derailment was eligible for up to $70,000 per household for property damage and up to $25,000 per person for health problems. Compensation amounts decrease as people live farther from the derailment, and can be as low as a few hundred dollars in outlying areas.

When the train derailed late on Feb. 3, 2023, tanker cars filled with dangerous chemicals ruptured and spilled their contents, which caught fire just outside the small town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Then, three days later, authorities decided to needlessly detonate five tanker cars of vinyl chloride and burn the toxic plastic ingredient inside, fearing they would explode.