EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Legal counsel representing the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against Norfolk Southern for damages due to last year’s train derailment and chemical release broke down the particulars of a $600 million principal settlement that was announced Tuesday.

The attorneys called the agreement “an outstanding result for the community and people of East Palestine” and spoke during a Zoom meeting on Wednesday, explaining the year-long litigation that led to the deal, the next steps in the legal proceedings, how the money will be divided among the community, who is eligible to receive compensation, what opting in means and future outreach plans to help residents understand the details.

“So much has been done over the past year with respect to the litigation but this is only the beginning of the settlement portion of this case,” said Jane Conroy of Simmons Hanly Conroy. “We are planning town meetings and there will be opportunities to speak to people and business owners and explain the details one-on-one, what it covers and how to present damages you may have experienced.”

The first legal action against the railroad was filed Feb. 7, 2023 — just days after 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed and led to an intentional vent and burn of 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride. Last April, U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson ordered that case and 30 others be consolidated into the class-action suit in Ohio Northern District Court. The lawsuits represented approximately 150 plaintiffs, but any resident living within a 20-mile radius during the derailment or vent-and-burn or owner of a business within the same perimeters who can show financial loss due to the rail disaster are entitled to a piece of the settlement which will be determined by a number of factors.

“We are working with experts who do this for a living. The allocation formula works on a point system and it gives higher rate value to folks who live in closer proximity to the derailment and vent and burn,” said Beth Graham of Grant & Eisenhofer. “We are taking household composition into account — if you had children, how many people live in your house, if you were working in the community. There’s a number of factors that are weighted and we are working with experts to translate those into dollars. It’s a fair and impartial process that is designed to compensate folks who are affected the most with the highest values.”

Determining a business’s eligibility is more direct.

“Businesses will have a straightforward availability to show their losses using last year’s business taxes versus the year of the incident’s taxes. Something akin to that,” Graham explained. “If folks have extraordinary losses, they are available to bring those to the table and we will take that into consideration.”

Participation in the resolution is being offered as “opt-in” opposed to the more commonly “opt-out” approach, meaning residents will be able to weigh the risks and benefits of participating in the settlement and make a calculated decision to join. Participation means a swift payouts — anticipated within by the end of the year — but it also releases any claims to future compensation. In other words, if an individual opts in and develops an illness that can be traced to the derailment in the future — even 25 years later — there will be more recourse or additional remedies available. Those who do not participate can exercise legal options later if they so choose.

Graham explained that the settlement was structured to release future claims because health impacts related to the derailment toxins were not as grave as they initially thought to be and required more long-term exposure. Waiting for an illness to present itself from that exposure years from now did not seem feasible for the plaintiffs who wanted a fast resolution.

The attorneys said that current plaintiffs were consulted and are “all very happy with the settlement” and that the terms negotiated “accurately reflect what the community was looking for and deserves.”

Taking into account the potential for future health problems, Graham said plaintiffs will be connected with financial planners who can help ensure a portion of money received is put aside to cover illness-related expenses later.

“As you probably already know, the latency period for a lot of these chemicals and the risk to the community according to our experts is not as great as we feared,” Graham said. “Individuals who unfortunately do get sick from it will get sick years from now. We are also going to be putting members of the community in touch with people who can help manage, if they are concerned, so it is trust for them and that will grow so, if down the road something happens, they will have been compensated and have money for medical care.”

However, with the agreement open to anyone within a 20-mile radius of the rail disaster, the potential exists for over 100,000 people to have stake in the settlement. That could mean little to go around and set aside for future medical care. Legal fees will also reduce the funds to be allocated to those impacted.

Plaintiff attorneys said they didn’t want to speculate on how many people will ultimately receive money from the settlement. As far as their fees, they said that is at Judge Pearson’s discretion.

Graham did say the plans were to err on the side of “being over inclusive” and that the radius is not based on a circle but rather a map of where experts believe “the contamination went.” Claims packets — paperwork with a series of questions to determine if an individual is part of the class — will be mailed out based on the most-recent census data available, and community outreach events are planned.

“We will be mailing out direct notices and we will have what we call a notice program that gets approved by the court where we will be doing informational outreach on media and social media,” Graham said.

Conroy added claim packets will also be available at the Norfolk Southern Family Assistance Center on Rebecca Street in East Palestine and town meetings will be held in the village.

Before outreach can be initiated, the court must grant initial approval of the settlement.

“We are in the process of papering the agreement. We are working with the lawyers at Norfolk Southern to finalize the terms of the agreement. All of the essential terms have been flushed out and now we are just going to put into an agreement that we all execute,” Graham said. “We then present it to the court and the judge has to rule on what’s called preliminary approval. If she gives the deal her preliminary blessing then notice goes out to the community.”

Preliminary approval is expected within 14 days. After claim packets are sent out, the community is given a certain period of time to consider opting-in. Once all the claims are turned in and allocations finalized, parties ask the court for final approval of the settlement.

Assuming the settlement meets the legal criteria of the settlement, our claims administrator starts handing out checks,’ Graham said. “We are hoping if we work quickly and efficiently, that could well be this year.”