Rail Law Blog

Within days of the February 3, 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern Railway train in East Palestine, Ohio, Neal Shapero and Andrew Thompson, along with attorney Nicholas Amato, filed a class action complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on behalf of residents and businesses impacted by the disaster. That action became the lead case to secure a $600 million settlement on behalf of those affected. The firm co-counseled with Attorney Jayne Conroy from Simmons Hanley & Conroy, a national firm specializing in toxic tort class actions. Shapero Roloff attorneys provided decades of experience in railroad litigation and were instrumental in obtaining a successful resolution of the matter by conducting depositions of railroad officials and overcoming Norfolk Southern’s motion to dismiss the class action based on legal defenses specific to federal law applicable to the railroad industry.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a report detailing the events that led to the derailment. The report concluded “that the probable cause of the derailment…was the failure of the L1 bearing on the 23^rd railcar in the consist that overheated and caused the axle to separate, derailing the train and leading to a post-derailment fire that likely began with the release of a…flammable liquid from a DOT-111 tank car that was punctured during the derailment.” On February 6^th, a contractor hired by Norfolk Southern performed a “vent and burn,” deliberately breaching several tank cars containing hazardous vinyl chloride, releasing and igniting the chemical. Residents and businesses were forced to evacuate the area for several days. Chemicals known to have been spilled into the environment included vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, and isobutylene.

The class action lawsuit initiated by Shapero Roloff culminated in one of the largest derailment settlements in the United States when in April 2024, Norfolk Southern agreed to pay $600 million to resolve the case. Class members within a certain radius of the derailment who chose to participate were provided direct payments for damages, compensation for business losses, and the option of an additional settlement for any personal injuries suffered. The settlement was approved by the District Court, and class counsel were successful in overcoming appeals.