Family members of the victims who suffered from the 2013 Lac-Mégantic train disaster voted unanimously to approve a final settlement package valued at a near $435 million, according to CBC News.
The vote follows World Fuel Service’s Tuesday announcement that it would provide an additional $135 million to the package. WFS served as the broker that supplied the tanker cars with oil.
“We believe that participating in the settlement and contributing to the compensation fund is in the best interests of our shareholders and will also aid in providing closure to those affected by this tragic accident,” chairman and CEO Michael J. Kasbar said in a related statement.
The settlement will be awarded to families of 47 victims, as well as the relatives of a firefighter who died by suicide following the disaster. The amount will range between $400,000 and $5 million, depending on each family’s particular circumstances.
Railway operator Montreal Maine and Atlantic Canada Co. only had $25 million in liability coverage through XL Insurance Company Ltd at the time of the derailment. The company was forced to declare bankruptcy after the former CEO admitted that the financial toll accrued in the U.S and Canada, "now exceed the value of their assets, including prospective insurance recoveries, as a direct result of the tragic derailment at Lac-Mégantic.”
Still, the carrier contributed to the compensation package, alongside MM&A, railroad manufacturers and fuel producers.
The only entity named in the class-action suit that failed to contribute is Canadian Pacific Railway. CP argues that it is “not among the parties responsible for the incident” since it neither operated the train nor provided any employees, railcars or the tracks on which it traveled.
