(The Associated Press circulated the following article on December 12.)
AIKEN, S.C. — An attorney is seeking class-action status for a lawsuit filed against railroad owner Norfolk Southern, claiming 350 workers laid off by Avondale Mills after a deadly train wreck a year ago lost their livelihood.
Attorney Douglas Schmidt, who set up an office in Graniteville after the Norfolk Southern train crashed there and caused a chlorine spill in January, filed the lawsuit Friday. It seeks back pay and lost benefits for employees who were laid off in October.
“They’ve lost their livelihood,” Schmidt said. “It’s not Avondale’s fault they had to do the layoffs.”
A Norfolk Southern crew rushed to finish its work late on Jan. 5 and didn’t realign a hand-operated switch causing a train to be diverted off the main track, according to federal investigators. The train crashed into a parked train near Avondale Mills and ruptured a chlorine tanker.
A toxic cloud released, killing nine people, injuring hundreds of others and about 5,400 people were forced to evacuate.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman would not comment on the lawsuit.
In October, the Avondale Mills plant announced that it would be forced to layoff 350 employees because the chlorine spill heavily damaged some of its facilities. Many of the mill’s employees on the late shift had to flee the area because of the chlorine.
The railroad is named as a defendant along with the three-men crew federal investigators said left the switch misaligned causing the derailment.
One employee, Michael Lanier, is named as a plaintiff in the initial filing. Lanier worked at the plant for three years and has not found a new job since being laid off, Schmidt said. Twenty other plaintiffs have signed up for the suit, Schmidt said.
If a judge agrees to certify the suit as a class-action, workers could have 90 days to sign up to join the suit.
Avondale Mills also has sued Norfolk Southern saying the wreck substantially damaged its business.
A federal judge approved a class-action settlement in August that outlined how residents and businesses should be reimbursed for property damages and lost wages and profits.