EAST PALESTINE — Attorneys representing more than 800 parties in two lawsuits that were recently transferred to the Columbiana County Common Pleas Court have organized a town hall to update residents impacted by the 2023 train derailment.

The town hall is set for Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. at the Columbiana Best Western.

The Keenan Law Firm and Bressman Law will discuss among other things potential legal action against the former settlement administrator of the $600 million deal struck between Norfolk Southern and residents.

The meeting, according to Mindy Bish of Keenan Law, is “to discuss and explain all the public records that have been released and why it should matter” and to also “show the community documents prepared by the plaintiff class action attorneys and compare them to what they told the judge and the community in order to get everyone to agree to the settlement.”

The Keenan Law Firm and Bressman Law along with Just Well Law represent the plaintiffs — some who opted in to the class-action settlement and others who opted out — from East Palestine and neighboring communities who initially filed last year in Franklin County against 52 defendants including Norfolk Southern, Mercy Health Quest Diagnostics, Village of East Palestine, the East Palestine Police and Fire Departments, East Palestine City Schools, Columbiana Exempted Village School District, Columbiana County General Health District and Columbiana County Board of Commissioners.

The lawsuit, which was assigned to Common Pleas Judge Scott Washam, accuses the defendants of allegedly failing in a duty to protect the public or warn of the known dangers the released chemicals presented.

“The community should know that everyone knew that their homes were not safe when they were told they were safe and still are not safe,” Bish said. “[The community should know] that although some of the population may never get sick there is a portion that will likely die. Lastly,[the town hall is] to explain what happened with Kroll and what is happening now in simple English everyone can understand.”

Judge Benita Pearson, who oversaw the class-action settlement in federal court, removed the New York-based Kroll as the court-appointed settlement administrator responsible for the processing claims, determining award amounts and distributing funds to the over 55,000 claims earlier this year. Pearson gave Kroll the boot for allegedly overpaying claims and her order made no mention of the complaints leveled against Kroll. Among those complaints were Kroll’s inability to get payments out within the promised 30 days and missing paperwork and documents as well as Kroll having no record of some class members filing a claim.

Bish made it clear legal action against Kroll is being pursued. That will be discussed at the town which is open to anyone, not just lawsuit plaintiffs. She encourages all residents to attend to “not only hear the truth but see the truth including who is feeding information to the alleged ‘truth tellers’ on social media.”

Bish added the latest suit is the “result of the unnecessary and dangerous actions of Norfolk Southern and everyone who helped to cover it up.”

Claims outlined in the complaint include negligence, nuisance, strict liability, trespass, punitive damages, loss of consortium, wrongful death, survivorship, civil conspiracy and Medicaid subrogation. The wrongful death claim alleges that Margie Mae Lewis, Margo Zuch, Randy Swogger, John R. Moore, Viola Noel, Edward Zins and Carlyn Tigelman all died from the aftermath of the derailment.

(Staff writer Mary Ann Greier contributed to this story)

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