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 have to be accepted by a decide, consists of funds to residents and companies inside 20 miles of the derailment. It additionally resolves private damage claims inside a 10-mile radius of the derailment.
“People and companies will have the ability to use compensation from the settlement in any method they see match to deal with potential opposed impacts from the derailment,” Norfolk Southern stated in a press release. “This might embrace well being care wants and medical monitoring, property restoration and diminution, and compensation for any web enterprise loss.”
The derailed prepare was carrying a wide range 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.
