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LISBON -- A Cleveland law firm filed 10 additional lawsuits recently on behalf of area residents against their attorneys, a doctor and others they say failed to disclose the possible long-term health impacts from the 2023 East Palestine train derailment.
The latest lawsuits were filed Friday afternoon in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court by an attorney with Winter Trimacco Co., with many of the same claims of a similar lawsuit filed last month.
The causes of action outlined in the lawsuit included legal malpractice, claiming the attorneys acted for their own benefit, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud related to the alleged concealing of the exposure expert's findings and other claims, fraudulent inducement, constructive fraud, negligent misrepresentation, civil conspiracy, liability for criminal acts, civil liability for theft offense, unjust enrichment and conversion.
The lawsuit stressed the plaintiffs were looking to pursue the personal liability of the attorneys and physician and others whose actions caused them to sign a personal injury claim release.
Sought are damages from the attorneys who represented residents in the $600 million class action settlement and a doctor who told them there would be no long-term health impacts from the 2023 train derailment.
"This is an action by residents of East Palestine and the surrounding communities against the lawyers who were appointed to protect them and against the physician whose assurances persuaded them to sign away the right to be compensated for diseases they have not yet developed," the lawsuit said.
Five of the complaints were assigned to Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton and five were assigned to Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam.
The document explained the lawyers obtained a settlement of $600 million for the people they represented and they were awarded $162 million in fees and another $18 million for expenses, payable into escrow within 14 days of final approval while their clients waited years for their payments, which for many were less than expected.
What's being argued in these cases centers on an optional extra payment class members could receive by signing a release from all personal injury claims from the derailment -- a release they signed based on the advice of their lawyers and a doctor who said in a video prepared for the lawyers that there would be no long-term health effects.
The lawsuits also claim the lawyers didn't share with their clients the data of an exposure expert, data made public in August and September this year that showed "between 50% and 70% of the data points for dioxins or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exceeded screening levels for cancer."
The lawsuits also alleged that the advertised personal injury payment was increased from $10,000 to $25,000 after the rate of people electing to release the personal injury claims was noticed to be low, with claim volume then increasing from 2,500 to 30,000. As a result, the value of each claim was then reduced.
According to the lawsuit, a virtual town hall was convened and a video was played on Aug. 1, 2024 featuring Arch Carson, a physician and toxicologist introduced as an independent third party. The video was actually prepared for two of the attorneys. In the video, he said "there would not be any long-term health impact from the derailment, that he would not personally expect one person to develop a cancer as a result the exposure, and that the community could be predicted to be safe in the long term."
The lawsuit said since the settlement "several plaintiffs have since been diagnosed with serious illnesses, including cancers, Several had received a few hundred dollars for their personal injury claims."
"Each plaintiff who develops a disease attributable to the derailment has no remedy against Norfolk Southern. That remedy was extinguished by the release each plaintiff signed at the behest of the defendants herein," the previous complaint said.
Two other lawsuits filed in Common Pleas Court were combined into one lawsuit against Norfolk Southern and a large number of other defendants related to the derailment and the chemical burn which has since been deemed unnecessary.
That lawsuit remains pending, with a status hearing set for Thursday before visiting Judge Richard McMonagle.