Read all of our reporting on the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, since the disaster happened on Feb. 3, 2023.
A lawsuit announced Monday claims for the first time that people died because of Norfolk Southern’s toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. It’s one of a flurry of cases filed in advance of the derailment’s two-year anniversary on Feb. 3.
Attorney Kristina Baehr of Just Well Law and two other law firms represent 744 clients in lawsuits against Norfolk Southern, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The case against the rail company makes seven wrongful death claims, including the death of a 1-week-old baby, a man who was exposed to chemicals from the derailment while mowing his lawn, and a 65-year-old man who had respiratory problems before the derailment.
“You take someone’s respiratory problems and you throw toxins at them, it’s going to take them over the edge,” Baehr said.
The lawsuit seeks damages from Norfolk Southern in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in Ohio. Baehr wants a jury to hear the case because she believes other citizens will be convinced that Norfolk Southern did not do enough to prevent the derailment, which they claim not only led to those deaths but also left many area residents with lingering health symptoms.
“The jury’s going to start to see trends,” Baehr said. “The weird symptoms, like why is it that everybody has brain fog, that everybody has short-term memory loss, that they’re describing feeling foggy and fuzzy and feeling like they’ve been hit by a truck? Same symptoms.”
The plaintiffs in this case did not sign on to the class action lawsuit that was settled between the company and thousands of residents last fall for $600 million. The most any household could receive from the settlement is $70,000 for property damage and economic losses and $25,000 per person for personal injuries.
That’s not enough money, according to Baehr. She thinks a lawsuit like this is about two things: compensating victims and deterring bad conduct.
“The class action didn’t do either of those things because you can’t have one without the other,” she said. “If the compensation isn’t enough, it’s not going to deter the bad conduct.
Norfolk Southern’s revenue was over $12 billion in 2024, and she thinks the class action settlement didn’t hurt that bottom line enough to force the company to change.
“Norfolk’s practice of putting profits over the health, safety and welfare of the communities its trains traverse has devastated East Palestine in so many ways,” Baehr said.
When asked about the lawsuit, a Norfolk Southern spokesperson said the company will review the details, and sent a document that outlines its efforts toward improving rail safety and remediating the derailment site, and its commitment of millions of dollars for economic and health projects in East Palestine.
Lawsuits against the CDC and EPA
Baehr’s clients are also suing the federal agencies for their responses to the derailment.
The case against the EPA claims negligence, delayed response and inadequate oversight, which “directly contributed to prolonged environmental contamination and health hazards,” according to the lawsuit.
“Not only did the EPA not require the appropriate warnings, but they declared it was safe when it wasn’t,” Baehr said. “[EPA] let Norfolk Southern take the lead on the botched testing and cleanup. That was like allowing a criminal to collect DNA and fingerprints at his own crime scene.”
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The complaint against the CDC claims that it failed to ensure proper public health response, testing and medical support for the affected residents.
Baehr calls herself a community safety lawyer. When asked what her clients are seeking in the lawsuits against the federal agencies, she said, “Change. I mean, more than anything, it’s about change.”
Neither the EPA nor the CDC responded to requests for comment.
Monday marked two years since the incident, which is the statute of limitations for some claims. At least nine other lawsuits were filed in the past week.
