
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — A new lawsuit blames the East Palestine derailment and toxic-chemical release for seven deaths, including that of a week-old infant.
The suit was announced Monday — two years after the Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern derailment — by a trio of law firms on behalf of some 744 plaintiffs. It names Norfolk Southern, railcar leasing companies GATX and Trinity Industries, and the Association of American Railroads among dozens of defendants, and makes claims including wrongful death and civil conspiracy.
Other defendants include the Village of East Palestine and its police and fire departments, various companies that engaged in cleanup of the derailment and chemicals, and medical organizations. The suit says the defendants “have attempted to evade a generation of environmental and health consequences around East Palestine, while minimizing or denying the current and future harm of the contamination.”
The Canton Repository newspaper reports the lawsuit blames the derailment for the death of four residents of East Palestine or Columbiana, Ohio, ages 77 to 83; a 65-year-old resident of South Beaver Township, Pa.; a resident of St. Clair Township, Ohio, for whom other information was not available, and a 7-day-old infant who died in the neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital in Boardman, Ohio, in November 2024.
Norfolk Southern declined comment on the suit, the Repository reports. The newspaper also says at least a dozen new federal lawsuits relating to the derailment have been filed since Jan. 30.
In a press release from Just Well Law of Austin, Texas — one of three firm representing the plantiffs — lawyer Kristina S. Baehr says “the families we represent are left with troubling, unanswered questions and the consequences of this conspiracy for their health and their lives. There has been no real accountability in the last two years.”
Norfolk Southern recently reached a $22 million settlement with East Palestine over claims by the village regarding the derailment [see “East Palestine, Norfolk Southern reach …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 28, 2025]. The railroad reported in its fourth-quarter earnings report that it has spent more than $1.6 billion in addressing the aftermath of the derailment, including the cleanup and legal costs.
Deep pockets suits clear and simple. Whenever they have a laundry list of defendants you know that the only thing the lawyers are interested in is finding the one that has the most money. Do these plaintiffs drive cars and use the freeways and local roads? Do they live below flight paths of airlines crisscrossing Ohio? Do they live under the heavens where meteors bombard the earth with astonishing regularity? Do they drink water? Do they eat local fruits and vegetables, etc, etc, etc’ This is one of the things that is wrong with America. We have become a litigious society that looks for ways to capitalize financially on disasters through folley lawsuits forged by attorneys who only seek to line their pockets as can be seen every day on TV sets around the country. legitimate claims need to be dealt with but lawyer throwing a net over as many points of income as they can in order to enrich themselves while usually disappointing their clients needs to be dealt with harshly and with severe penalties up to and including the permanent loss of licenses to practice. Because to many it seems as that is all they are doing…practicing. The only conspiracy going on here is the one by the three quack law firms engaged in this deep pocket witch hunt. How tragic!
Oh and by the way, the only reason they haven;t sued the States of Ohio and Pennsylvania and departments of the US Government is because they are prohibited by law. I’m surprised they haven’t sued all the other residents of East Palestine, even though in effect, they have by the increase taxes that will surely go up if by spate of luck they should win their suits. I hope the courts see this for what it is and chuck this case and its greedy lawyers out on their heads and make them responsible financially for wasting the courts time!