(The following article by Dan Horn was posted on the Cincinnati Enquirer website on November 19.)
CINCINNATI, Ohio — More than 30,000 residents and businesses should be paid damages because of the styrene leak that hit Cincinnati’s East End in August, the residents’ attorneys said Friday.
The attorneys made the claim when they asked a judge to combine residents’ lawsuits into a single class-action complaint against the companies they blame for the chemical leak.
The claim states that anyone living within a 3.2-mile radius of the leak is entitled to compensation.
The leak began Aug. 28 when a chemical cloud emerged from a rail car that had been sitting for months on a Linwood track. About 800 properties were evacuated for three days as firefighters struggled to bring the leak under control.
Residents have sued Indiana and Ohio Railway Corp., Westlake Chemical Corp. and Kinder Morgan Liquid Terminals. They claim the companies were negligent in their handling of the rail car or the chemical.
The lawyers asked Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh to declare their lawsuit a class-action complaint, which would allow them to sue on behalf of anyone affected by the leak. It’s unclear when the judge might make a decision.
The request comes as the companies involved in the case continue to offer individual settlements to residents and businesses in the East End.
An attorney for the railroad said the company has settled with thousands of individuals and hundreds of businesses, but he would not disclose the amount of those settlements.
“Those efforts have continued through the present time,” said the lawyer, James O’Connell. “Suffice to say, substantial amounts have been paid.”
Lou Gilligan, an attorney for the residents, said the request Friday for class certification gives residents an alternative to settling on their own with the companies. “We’re pursuing this litigation on behalf of everyone,” he said.
Gilligan would not comment on the potential for a settlement with the companies, but he said the two sides are talking. “Hopefully, they are willing to do the right thing,” he said.
Settlement talks have so far failed to resolve a separate lawsuit filed by the city. A final meeting with a mediator ended Thursday without an agreement.