(The following story by Richard Burgess appeared on The Advertiser website on September 22.)
LAFAYETTE, La. — Attorneys on Tuesday began weeding through nearly 500 questionable claims for a share of the $65 million settlement in a May 2000 train derailment that forced an evacuation of Eunice after fumes leaked from wrecked rail cars carrying hazardous chemicals.
Roughly 12,200 people are part of the class that could receive a share of the settlement, which Union Pacific Railroad Co. agreed to earlier this year.
The hearings on questionable claims were prompted after the train company did research comparing people who filed claims in the Eunice case to claimants in other class-action lawsuits in Louisiana, said New Iberia attorney David Groner, who serves on the committee of attorneys that sued Union Pacific.
“Surprisingly, there were a number of people whose names appeared in a number of class actions,” Groner said. “That caused us to scrutinize the claims a bit more.”
Armed with a detailed timeline of street and store closures during the evacuation of the city, two “special masters” appointed to oversee the payout grilled a group of mostly out-of-towners who said they were in Eunice at the time of the derailment.
One of the special masters, Kenneth Dejean, said he was scheduled to review 50 claims Tuesday. He said 21 didn’t show up and that out of the 29 he heard, he dismissed 16 and allowed 13 to stay in the case. Those who missed the hearing without a valid excuse will also be dismissed, Dejean said. The second special master, Pat Juneau, continued hearing claims into the evening.
Both men focused their questions on discrepancies between forms the claimants filled out earlier this year and the timeline of the evacuation.
One woman said she was shopping at the Stage department store about two hours after the derailment.
“I’m telling you, that store was closed — you couldn’t even get there,” Juneau said, before tossing the woman’s claim.
The hearings are scheduled to continue today.