Eastern Railroad Discussion > P&L, R.J.Corman, ETEH, et. al. How deep are your pocke

The P&L derailment at West Point, Ky. is pretty much cleaned up now, 3 weeks after the derailment. There may be two empty tank cars that still need to be removed. Does it surprise anyone that there is a class action law suit against Paducah and Louisville Railway, R. J. Corman Railroad Group, EHET, and others. On about the 2nd or maybe 3rd day after the derailment P&L opened up a service center. They offered to pay the bills of residents that were living in hotels. They also offered $100 per adult per day to each adult and money for meals, laundry, additional clothing, etc... The residents say it’s not enough to cover their inconvience and health issues. They also claim that the railroad failed to maintain their track and that all of the ties were rotten. I happen to know that that wasn’t the case because unless they rot in only a few years, P&L replaced most of the ties about 5 years ago. I know because I hauled off a truck load of the old ties for landscaping at my son’s house, and yes, I had permission from the foreman to take them. In the worst case, depending on where a person lived and where they worked, they might have a 1 hour detour to get around the incident. The local Hazmat officials say that there were no hazmat materials released into the air. There was a slight spill at the site of the derailment but it was contained. Residents were evacuated during the fire due to the posibility of an explosion and an associated hazmat release.

West Point is not an affluent part of the county, nor is it distressed. It’s just an old town with some working class people. No bank presidents or anything like that. If a couple is getting $100 a day per person ($200 total) for 7 days a week, $1400, it’s probably quite a bit more than the average resident lives on normally. I will admit that there were some businesses such as mom and pop restaurants or hardware stores that lost some business. They can claim the additional loss.

As far as the three R.J.Corman employees that were injured in the fire are concerned, initially it was reported that they were from Nashville. Later reports said they were from St. Louis. Two of the three had been released from the hospital and I don’t know the status of the third one. Once this story became old news, it got pushed to the back burner, there was very little information about them.

Disclaimer. I’m not a lawyer. I’m just presenting this as I know it. I don’t have access to all of the facts.

John

wa4umr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> West Point is not an affluent part of the county,
> nor is it distressed. It’s just an old town
> with some working class people. No bank
> presidents or anything like that. If a couple is
> getting $100 a day per person ($200 total) for 7
> days a week, $1400, it’s probably quite a bit
> more than the average resident lives on normally.
> I will admit that there were some businesses such
> as mom and pop restaurants or hardware stores
> that lost some business. They can claim the
> additional loss.

But you can always count on some ambulance-chaser lawyer to jump at the chance to make himself a good chunk of money by filing a suit knowing that most entities will settle out of court. It has become the American way unfortunately.

There seems to be a lack of understanding about the role of attorneys in matters of litigation. People retain attorneys to represent them. The attorney is required by their canon to do the best job of representation that they can.

In the case of a class action, there has to be a sufficient number of class members and a lead plaintiff who will fairly represent absent members of the class.

I'm not an attorney, and haven't played one at the local dinner theater. But please educate yourselves about the local bar before this whining. The NTSB report will point out the culprit(s).

Technically true, but when lawyers start "trolling" perceived victims, I have an issue with that, often whipping up a frenzy where none existed. And when is the last time one of these lawyers told a potential client," Sorry, but you are an idiot, an what happened to you is YOUR fault. You MIGHT be ale to sue somebody and win, but I will NOT be a party to it"? I'm guessing almost never.

NormSchultze Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There seems to be a lack of understanding about
> the role of attorneys in matters of litigation.
> People retain attorneys to represent them. The
> attorney is required by their canon to do the best
> job of representation that they can.
>
> In the case of a class action, there has to be a
> sufficient number of class members and a lead
> plaintiff who will fairly represent absent members
> of the class.
>
> I'm not an attorney, and haven't played one at the
> local dinner theater. But please educate
> yourselves about the local bar before this
> whining. The NTSB report will point out the
> culprit(s).


And there are lots of lawyers in my ancestry, so I'm not inclined to bash 'em, either. That said, there are lots of personal-injury lawyers who will canvass a neighborhood after an incident like this one seeking to drum up business, regardless of how flimsy the case is, hoping to score a fat commission out of the make-it-go-away settlement from the big bad corporation. So it's not always a matter of someone being actually injured (physically or monetarily) and seeking out counsel to pursue a claim.

lawyers are like politicans, always sticking there noses where they dont belong! then again i just stuck my nose in here so where does it end!!

The "big, bad Corporation" always has the option to try the case. However, lets not loose sight of the fact that the cost of settlements merely go into the freight rate. So dont cry for me Mr Railroad.