“Make sure you’ve got lawyers, because I’m telling you, I don’t think they [Norfolk Southern] really care,” she continued. “We had a class action lawsuit, but you don’t really get anything from it. I can’t even remember the amount, but it was book money for my daughter for the first semester. It was nothing.”
In the aftermath of the Paulsboro ordeal, multiple class action lawsuits were filed on behalf of first responders and the hundreds of local residents who lived or worked near the site of the Nov. 30, 2012 derailment. But some residents claim the rail company paid them off with “chump change” compensation to prevent them from seeking more cash if they developed serious health ailments down the line, including cancers.
“People signed letters to get money, but they waived all their rights,” said Paulsboro mayor Gary Stevenson, who was the deputy fire chief in 2012 when the derailment occurred. “My advice to the [Ohio] residents is understand what you’re singing. You might be signing your life and health away if you do that.” Exposure to vinyl chloride – a carcinogenic – has already been linked to liver, brain and lung cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute. The mayor, who lived less than 100 yards from where the train derailed, said he hadn’t heard of anyone being diagnosed with cancer and blaming it on the Paulsboro incident.