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LISBON -- Another class action lawsuit against Norfolk Southern has been filed over the Feb. 3 train derailment and fire in East Palestine, this time in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.
Chase Kinder and Cheri Kinder, who live on Hamilton Road, East Palestine, and operate Bird Dog Hill Kennels at their property, along with Stonybrook Kennel on West Main Street, East Palestine, and Pamela Taas, who lives on Alice Street, East Palestine, are the listed plaintiffs, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated.
Norfolk Southern Corp. of Atlanta and Norfolk Southern Railway Co. of Upper Arlington are the named defendants. The lawsuit was filed by East Palestine attorney James Wise, whose office is located on West Taggart Street, and attorneys from Dworken & Bernstein Co., L.P.A. in Painesville.
The first lawsuit was filed in federal court.
The case in common pleas court was assigned to Judge Scott Washam and requested an order certifying the case as a class action and requesting compensatory damages and punitive damages along with attorney fees and costs.
The class allegations noted three separate classes. Class A was described as representing all persons, firms or entities who owned or rented property at any time from Feb. 3 through Friday within 20 miles of the train derailment at the east end of East Palestine.
Class B was described as all persons who owned, rented, resided in, or worked at a property at any time from Feb. 3 through Friday within 20 miles of the train derailment and who evacuated the area, were sheltered in place or were unable to return to their homes or businesses pursuant to direction of safety personnel.
Class C was described as all persons present within 20 miles of the train derailment that occurred Feb. 3 at the east end of East Palestine.
Court documents said all the classes number in excess of 500 persons.
The lawsuit claimed that all plaintiffs, including those forced out of their homes or businesses or who couldn't go home or to their businesses on Feb. 3 and thereafter due to the defendants' actions suffered real estate damage, personal property damage or loss, business or income loss, expenses and out-of-pocket losses, physical injury or distress, risk of contact with dangerous chemicals, emotional distress, inconvenience and interruption due to the derailment.
The lawsuit talked about the National Transportation Safety Board saying that two videos obtained by the NTSB showed "preliminary indications of mechanical issues on one of the railcar axles. Such failure of defendants' equipment is known as a 'hot box,' a term for the overheating of a wheel bearing. This condition more likely than not, caused a fire which led to the derailment."
The lawsuit accused the train personnel of failing to take action after the train passed through a wayside defect detector shortly before the derailment and warned them of a mechanical problem.
During a press conference earlier this week, a spokesman for the NTSB talked about the wayside defect detector and said an emergency brake application was initiated before the derailment. The NTSB is expected to have a preliminary report in four to six weeks, with a final report not expected for 18 to 24 months.
The lawsuit also went into detail about the length of the train, the dangerous chemicals aboard, including the vinyl chloride, and claimed the defendants didn't release the list of chemicals until days later. The chemicals released into waterways resulted in the death of fish in Leslie Run, Bull Creek and North Fork, according to the lawsuit.
The document made claims of negligence and nuisance and hazardous activity.