Ohio Lawyers Specializing in Train Derailment Claims

What Types of Damages Can Victims of the East Palestine Train Derailment Seek?

Affected people who live and work in the area near the train crash may potentially be eligible to seek damages for a diverse array of injuries, including physical, financial and emotional injuries. As with most personal injury cases, these can include:

• Medical costs
• Lost wages
• Career ramifications (loss of jobs opportunities, loss of raises or future income, etc.)
• Emotional trauma
• Reduced quality of life

The East Palestine accident has greater potential to result in serious career consequences than many other similar types of injury accidents. East Palestine is not a large town. Although its residents may embody the resilience for which Ohio is known, their ability to continue living and working in East Palestine may be significantly hampered moving forward.

The media has already spoken to many residents who are seeing dramatic negative consequences for their businesses. Service providers who rely on their neighbors and community for work and contracts are already starting to struggle as members of the community permanently relocate. It’s still too early to say how many businesses in the community may struggle or fail as residents leave, but if the trend continues, it may be significant.

Many families who may love East Palestine and want to stay simply won’t be able to do so if the environmental contamination results in significant detrimental health effects. This will be especially true if the toxic chemicals released during and after the crash result in permanent degradation of air quality and water quality.

It’s no surprise that many of the affected residents are experiencing emotional trauma. They are losing sleep worrying about how the business consequences will impact their ability to earn a living or whether the symptoms of itchy, burning eyes or lung pain affecting their children are temporary, or if the damage will be permanent. The psychological pain and suffering experienced by residents of the town is very real, even if they weren’t personally injured by the accident itself.

What Happened?

A train carrying a variety of cargo, including hazardous material, was traveling from Conway, PA to Madison, IL when it derailed on the night of February 3, 2023. A total of 38 of the 151 cars went off the track, which resulted in a fire that further damaged an additional 12 cars.

Vinyl chloride gas was intentionally released from five train cars on February 6 to avert an explosion, further exposing the local environment and residents to an extremely toxic chemical. The track’s proximity to the Ohio River means everyone living near the river may potentially be affected by the decision.

Many residents of the town were reporting itchy, burning eyes, rashes, migraines and sore throats in the days after the accident. Within a few weeks, wildlife authorities had counted approximately 3,500 dead fish in nearby waterways.

Vinyl chloride, a carcinogen linked to a rare, extremely dangerous type of liver cancer, should be considered a hazardous chemical. Despite the known danger of this chemical, the train was not categorized as a “high hazardous material train.” As a result, the company wasn’t required to notify state officials about the chemicals transported in the cars.

Were There Warning Signs?

Employees of the company have been quoted in news stories about their concerns with the train’s 9,300-foot length and 18,000-ton weight. Some employees, speaking anonymously to the media, even theorized the derailment may not have happened or been mitigated had the train not weighed 18,000 tons.

Long trains are understandably more efficient since they require fewer employees and resources to ship a larger volume of goods. However, the company could be in trouble if it’s determined they or their employees disregarded regulations or knowingly put people in harm’s way for increased profits.

There have also been stories about Norfolk Southern lobbying government officials to repeal rules regarding the improvement of outdated braking systems. Pennsylvania officials have since made criminal referrals against the company to the PA attorney general’s office.