FILE - Portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed the night before burn in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2023. On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement related to a fiery train derailment in February 2023 in eastern Ohio. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — A tentative $600 million agreement was reached to settle a class-action lawsuit with residents of East Palestine and surrounding areas in connection to last year’s train derailment and chemical release, according to a notice filed in the case in U.S. Northern District Court at Youngstown on Tuesday.

“Subject to this Court’s approval, this $600 million settlement would resolve all class action claims within a 20-mile radius from the derailment and, for those residents who choose to participate, personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius from the derailment,” the motion states. “It follows extensive fact discovery, expert development, and three days of mediation before former federal district judge Layn Phillips.”

The first legal action against the railroad was filed Feb. 7, 2023, just days after the derailment. Last April, U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson ordered that case and 30 others be consolidated into the class-action suit, representing approximately 100 village residents and over 30 East Palestine businesses as well as about 40 residents and seven businesses outside of the village.

The settlement is meant to compensate plaintiffs for damages suffered after 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed and spilled toxic chemicals on Feb. 3, 2023, and an intentional vent and burn of 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride in the days following.

“The agreement is designed to provide finality and flexibility for settlement class members. Individuals and businesses will be able to use compensation from the settlement in any manner they see fit to address potential adverse impacts from the derailment,” Norfolk Southern said in an emailed statement. “This could include healthcare needs and medical monitoring, property restoration and diminution, and compensation for any net business loss.

In addition, individuals within 10-miles of the derailment may, at their discretion, choose to receive additional compensation for any past, current, or future personal injury from the derailment.”

Norfolk Southern said the “comprehensive agreement” will provide “additional, significant monetary relief to individuals, including for healthcare, and to help qualifying local businesses continue to rebuild and grow” without any admission of liability, wrongdoing, or fault on behalf of the railroad.

Legal counsel for the plaintiffs, who expect to be preliminarily approved no later than April 19 with payments beginning by the end of this year, said the settlement will help remedy the ramifications of the derailment.

“This resolution comes shortly after the one-year anniversary of the disaster and will provide substantial compensation to all affected residents, property owners, employees and businesses residing, owning or otherwise having a legal interest in property, working, owning or operating a business for damages resulting from the derailment and release of chemicals,” Seth A. Katz (Burg, Simpson, Eldredge Hersh & Jardine), M. Elizabeth Graham (Grant & Eisenhofer) Jayne Conroy (Simmons, Hanly, Conroy LLC and T. Michael Morgan (Morgan & Morgan) wrote in a joint statement.

The amount each plaintiff receives from the settlement will be decided by specific factors — location relative to the derailment, household membership, the length of any displacement, exposure to contaminants, etc.

“We believe this is a fair, reasonable and adequate result for the community on a number of levels, not the least of which is the speed of the resolution, and the overall amount of the awards residents can expect, which will be significant for those most impacted by the derailment,” said Katz, Graham, Conroy and Morgan.

While the pending agreement is considered sufficient to some, it drew criticism from others. Jessica Conard, an East Palestine resident and Appalachia director of Beyond Plastics, an environmental activist group, believes the settlement essentially lets the railroad off the hook.

“If the court accepts this settlement it sets the precedent that there is a corporate price tag for poisoning communities,” she said. “The court must uphold justice for the people and avoid a pay-to-pollute situation.”

The Unity Council for the East Palestine Train Derailment — a grassroots group of those impacted advocating for themselves — also voiced disapproval of the settlement.

“How can you make an offer when people are still being exposed and you still don’t know the extent or results of that exposure? No one knows what low level multiple chemical exposure does, as no studies have been done on this sort of thing,” the group wrote in an emailed statement. “We would like to focus on solutions this year, not just highlighting the problems because we know there are problems. We know there have been errors made, but now we need to figure out what the solutions are, and throwing money at us is not going to solve the issues we or our children have had, continue to have, or will have in the future for generations to come.”

In the weeks following the derailment, Norfolk Southern promised, among other things, to protect village drinking water, compensate for any loss in property values and establish a fund to address growing medical concerns. Norfolk followed through on the first two, contributing over $4 million dollars to upgrade the municipal water infrastructure and by rolling out the Interim Value Assurance Program that makes up for any discrepancies between a home’s selling price and appraisal value. The railroad insists it is working on a medical fund, but no details have been released to date.

Norfolk Southern still faces an avalanche of lawsuits related to the rail disaster. The state of Ohio, the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, several school districts in Western Pennsylvania and other area residents and businesses have also filed suit against the railroad, including the owner of CeramFab, who is seeking $500 million in damages.

The litigation has proved pricey for Norfolk Southern in more ways than one — the company reported a preliminary first-quarter earnings of 23 cents per share Tuesday down from an anticipated $2.39 after the settlement.

Meanwhile, environmental remediation and restoration costs have soared past $1 billion. Last month, a federal judge ruled that Norfolk Southern was solely responsible for cleanup costs, tossing out the railroad’s claim that the owner of the chemicals released and the owners of faulty tank cars should share in that responsibility (Tuesday’s settlement “expressly preserves Norfolk Southern’s third-party claims” against railcar defendants also named in the suit). In addition, the railroad has also contributed $104 million to the communities impacted by the derailment, including $21 million in direct payments to residents and $9 million to local first responders.