Norfolk Southern introduced on Tuesday that it agreed to pay $600 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from a February 2023 derailment of a prepare carrying hazardous supplies in East Palestine, Ohio.
The settlement, which should be authorized by a choose, consists of funds to residents and companies inside 20 miles of the derailment. It additionally resolves private harm claims inside a 10-mile radius of the derailment.
“People and companies will be capable of use compensation from the settlement in any method they see match to deal with potential opposed impacts from the derailment,” Norfolk Southern stated in an announcement. “This might embody well being care wants and medical monitoring, property restoration and diminution, and compensation for any internet enterprise loss.”
The derailed prepare was carrying quite a lot of cargo, together with 700,000 kilos of vinyl chloride, a chemical used to make plastics. Fearing an explosion, officers launched the contents of the automotive carrying the chemical and set them ablaze within the city, sending up large plumes of smoke and alarming residents.
