A multi-million dollar wrongful-death settlement has been reached for the victims of the 2013 Lac-Megantic rail disaster.
According to an American lawyer Peter Flowers who was handling the lawsuits, $200 million will be distributed in settlement funds to the victims’ families and other parties involved in the legal battle.
“This fund applies essentially to everyone who's been affected as a result of the disaster,” Flowers told reporters. “It applies to the wrongful-death victims, it applies to the government's lawsuit against these companies. It applies to the class-action lawsuit filed in Canada against these companies.”
The compensation package must still be approved by courts on both sides of the border, but disbursements are expected to begin this summer, according to Canadian Press.
The settlement involves the Montreal Maine and Atlantic Canada Co., its insurance carrier, rail-car manufacturers and some oil producers. According to Flowers, the amount will go even higher because three other companies – World Fuel Services, Canadian Pacific Railway and Irving Oil – have yet to contribute.
Flowers attributed Illinois litigation regulations as playing a “dramatic role” in increasing the funds to be distributed.
“We will turn over every stone on earth before we give up on them and intend on pursuing them in Illinois,” he told Canadian Press, “and any other state to ensure they're brought to justice and held responsible for this disaster.”
The derailment on July 6, 2013 killed 47 people in the small Quebec town of Lac-Megantic, levelling part of the downtown core.
The 10 defendants named in the suit included the now-defunct Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, its major stockholder Rail World Inc., top rail executive Edward Burkhardt and several American petroleum companies. (continued.)
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The suit alleged the railway and petroleum companies named had a duty to operate their businesses in a ''safe manner and to take reasonable measures to avoid exposing the public to the dangers associated with the transport of crude oil to refineries.''
Roy also alleged in the suit the defendants were negligent for transporting crude oil in the flawed DOT-111 tanker cars, which have been known to rupture during derailments. The document highlights how there has been a considerable increase in oil-by-rail transport in recent years.
