Writer of the article:
Revealed Mar 30, 2025 • 4 minute learn
Article content material
Norfolk Southern needs two different corporations to assist pay for the $600 million class-action settlement it agreed to over its disastrous 2023 practice derailment close to the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and the poisonous chemical compounds that have been launched and burned.
Article content material
Article content material
The railroad filed the movement that’s set to go to trial beginning Monday to pressure the railcar proprietor GATX and the chemical producer OxyVinyls to share the price of the settlement as a result of Norfolk Southern believes these corporations are partly accountable for what occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2023.
Commercial 2
Article content material
This lawsuit received’t change something about how a lot cash residents will obtain from the settlement or any funds the village or anybody else is about to obtain as a result of these are all established in varied settlement agreements. This case will solely have an effect on which firm has to write down the checks to pay for the class-action settlement.
Residents are nonetheless ready to obtain a lot of the cash from the settlement due to pending appeals, though some funds have began to exit.
An assortment of chemical compounds spilled and caught hearth after the practice derailed in East Palestine. Three days later, officers blew open 5 tank automobiles stuffed with vinyl chloride as a result of they feared these automobiles would possibly explode, producing an enormous black plume of smoke that unfold over the city and compelled evacuations.
High Tales
Article content material
Commercial 3
Article content material
Many residents nonetheless fear right now about potential well being penalties from these chemical compounds.
The derailment was the worst rail catastrophe since a crude oil practice devastated the small Canadian city of Lac-Megantic and killed 47 folks in 2013. It prompted the U.S. to deal with rail security and reforms, which have been proposed in Congress earlier than stalling with out passing.
Norfolk Southern says corporations share the duty
Norfolk Southern already misplaced the same lawsuit final yr when it tried to pressure GATX and OxyVinyls to assist pay for the environmental cleanup after the derailment that has price the Atlanta-based railroad greater than $1 billion. It’s making related arguments once more to attempt to get assist paying for the class-action settlement.
Commercial 4
Article content material
“Norfolk Southern alone has paid the prices regarding the derailment regardless of ample proof that different events share within the duty. This trial is about reinforcing the function shippers and railcar homeowners play in transportation security and making certain everybody accountable pays their justifiable share,” the railroad stated in a press release.
Norfolk Southern, like most railroads, doesn’t personal a lot of the automobiles it hauls, and the railroad says everybody concerned in delivery hazardous chemical compounds bears some duty for making certain their security beneath federal rules.
Norfolk Southern argues GATX bears some duty for the derailment as a result of it owned the railcar stuffed with plastic pellets that precipitated the derailment when its bearing overheated, caught hearth and failed that night time, sending 38 automobiles off the rails.
Commercial 5
Article content material
Norfolk Southern additionally stated it believes OxyVinyls ought to pay as a result of the railroad says chemical producer offered inconsistent and inaccurate details about its vinyl chloride earlier than officers determined to launch and burn it.
Firms say Norfolk Southern was accountable for security
Each GATX and OxyVinyls say it could be ridiculous to carry them accountable for the derailment when Norfolk Southern operated and inspected the practice and all of the automobiles and was accountable for delivering the cargo safely.
“Norfolk Southern’s claims in opposition to GATX are baseless,” the railcar proprietor stated in a press release.
GATX stated it complied with all of the related rules for caring for its railcars. The corporate stated that even when the automobile was broken six years earlier by standing parked in the course of floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey, the railroad ought to have noticed the issue and repaired it, sending GATX the invoice for the repairs.
Commercial 6
Article content material
The Nationwide Transportation Security Board stated the crash was brought on by the failure of an overheating bearing on GATX’s railcar. The railroad’s sensors noticed the bearing beginning to warmth up within the miles earlier than the derailment, however it didn’t attain a important temperature and set off an alarm till simply earlier than the derailment. That left the crew scant time to cease the practice.
Norfolk Southern beneficial the vent-and-burn operation to launch the vinyl chloride based mostly partly on details about the chemical that OxyVinyls had revealed beforehand suggesting a chemical response may occur and trigger the tank automobiles to blow up.
However the NTSB confirmed in its investigation that was pointless as a result of the tank automobiles have been beginning to cool off and the railroad did not take heed to the recommendation from OxyVinyls’ specialists or share their opinions with the officers who made the choice.
“This trial is nothing greater than Norfolk Southern’s continued try to shift the blame, consideration, and monetary duty for its practice derailment, response, and vent and burn resolution to anybody apart from itself,” the Texas-based firm stated. “OxyVinyls didn’t trigger the derailment, its tank automobiles didn’t breach, and it didn’t make the choice to vent and burn the VCM (vinyl chloride monomer) automobiles.”
The trial is predicted to final two to a few weeks.
Article content material
