MISSOULA, Mont. — It’s been 6-1/2 years since Patrick and Linda Walsh helped evacuate Alberton residents after a train derailment that spilled 130,000 pounds of liquid chlorine, and it’s time, they say, for the rail company to pay them for injuries they received during that effort, the Missoulian reported.
The Walshes, former volunteer firefighters with the Frenchtown Rural Fire Department, claim they have asthma-like lung diseases, chronic eye irritation and other symptoms all related to exposure to chlorine after the April 11, 1996, spill.
Their case against Montana Rail Link, one of the few remaining to be settled, went to trial last week, wrapping up at about 7 p.m. Friday after four days of testimony.
Patrick and Linda Walsh are suing only for damages related to their exposure to the chlorine, and Montana Rail Link has already agreed to pay whatever the jury awards. The rail company will not, however, be held liable for any other injuries the Walshes received.
Much of the testimony focused on the symptoms suffered by the Walshes and whether those symptoms are consistent with chlorine exposure. Both are longtime smokers and admit they have not been able to quit for good.
Randy Cox, an attorney for Montana Rail Link, said in closing arguments that medical records simply don’t back up Patrick and Linda Walsh’s claims that they have been permanently disabled. Doctors who saw them within months of the accident said both were healthy enough to work and would not suffer permanent effects, while a doctor chosen by their attorney saw them several years later and declared them both disabled without looking at their full records, he said.
“The plaintiffs want to blame everything bad that has ever happened to them since April 1996 on this derailment,” Cox said. He added later: ” Sometimes people have to be told again, by a jury, that they are not disabled, their problems are mild and they need to get on with their lives.”
But Linda Walsh, who left the witness stand wheezing Friday afternoon after an angry outburst that the judge later told the jury to ignore, said her suffering is real and entirely attributable to her chlorine exposure.
“If I knew that night what my family would have went through, I never, never would have went on the call,” she said. “None of this is worth it.”
Linda Walsh, who now lives in Nebraska, said she has not worked since the accident and no longer looks for work because she is so sensitive to chemical smells that she finds it difficult to even leave her home.
The couple has been separated for at least two years, and Patrick Walsh lives in California, where he has been able to find work.
Cox argued that Patrick Walsh should not be awarded damages for disability when he is making more money now than he ever did before the spill.
The Walshes’ attorney, Ted Lyon of Mesquite, Texas, has represented a number of plaintiffs in lawsuits against Montana Rail Link related to the Alberton spill. He said the injuries of Linda and Patrick Walsh are consistent with exposure to chlorine and asked the jury to award enough to compensate the couple for pain and suffering as well as their past and future medical expenses and disability.
Their separation, he said, is largely due to stress on their marriage caused by their illnesses.
“MRL ruined their lives,” Lyon said in closing. “MRL has failed to accept responsibility in this case. They ought to step up, and they ought to take responsibility for the injuries these people have had.”