Posted on Tue, Jan. 09, 2007

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GRANITEVILLE TRAIN DISASTER

Graniteville | Victims could receive $22,500

Awards under proposed settlement would be on top of medical costs, lost wages

By RICK BRUNDRETT

rbrundrett@thestate.com

Residents and workers injured by chlorine exposure from the 2005 Graniteville train wreck each would receive a lump-sum payment ranging from $9,375 to $22,500 under a proposed class-action settlement.

The payments would be in addition to approved medical costs and lost wages paid by Norfolk Southern Railway Co.

An estimated 700-800 people are expected to be covered by the settlement, which was given preliminary approval Monday by a federal judge. The group would include residents, Avondale Mills workers and emergency responders.

The total amount of the proposed lump-sum payments is unknown, though it is expected to be in the millions of dollars. If 800 people each qualified for $20,000, for example, the total would be $16 million.

“I think it’s fair and reasonable from Norfolk Southern’s point of view,” Greenville lawyer Daniel White, who represents the railroad, said after Monday’s hearing in U.S. District Court in Columbia.

Mount Pleasant attorney Joe Rice, one of the lawyers for the injured, said afterward that the settlement will allow residents to get paid more quickly than if they had filed individual lawsuits. Under the proposal, residents suing the railroad would have until March 20 to opt out of the settlement.

“It’s been two years,” Rice said. “I think a lot of people want to put this behind them.”

Under the proposed settlement, lawyers representing the injured would receive up to a third of the paid claims. Rice said attorney fees would not be deducted from lump-sum payments.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Seymour gave preliminary approval to the settlement and set a hearing for April 27 to consider final approval.

Meanwhile, a claims center in Graniteville likely will begin processing claims later this month, said Columbia lawyer Carl Solomon, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

The settlement would cover those who sought treatment from a licensed physician or health-care provider following the Jan. 6, 2005, accident that killed nine, injured hundreds and forced the evacuation of about 5,400.

The wreck occurred when a 42-car Norfolk Southern freight train slammed into a Norfolk Southern train parked next to Avondale Mills. The early-morning crash caused the release of deadly chlorine gas from a damaged tanker car.

It was the worst railway chemical accident in the U.S. since 1978.

Since the accident, Norfolk Southern has paid about $41 million in legal claims, medical bills, cleanup costs and other expenses not covered by the railroad’s insurance, said Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman.

That includes a separate class-action settlement reached in 2005 involving 1,559 claims and 3,715 people, Chapman said, though he didn’t know the total settlement amount.

That settlement covered property damage claims, evacuation costs and expenses related to minor injuries with no medical treatment.

The latest proposed settlement doesn’t include wrongful-death claims. Of nine wrongful-death cases, seven have been settled, White said.

Barnwell lawyer Terry Richardson, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, said Monday that people with severe injuries requiring ongoing medical treatment — about 50 — likely will opt out.

Richardson said he believed the proposed settlement would cover the majority of pending lawsuits against Norfolk Southern, which Chapman put at 111.

The amount of the payments would depend upon when the medical treatment was done, the proximity to the wreck site, and other factors, such as whether the injured was a resident, Avondale Mills worker or emergency responder.

Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484.