(The following story by Stephanie Segretto appeared on the WLKY website on October 2.)
BULLITT COUNTY, Ky. — Thousands of Bullitt County residents could soon be cashing in, collecting hundreds for what they went through during a train derailment more than a year and a half ago.
Residents up to 31⁄2 miles away from the crash site received details of a class action settlement recently. Now they must decide if they want in or out.
“I seen this big black thing of smoke,” said Bullitt County resident Hilbert Klein. “I mean, it was awful.”
“We saw the smoke before anything,” said Bullitt County resident Robin Durrett.
“I thought that’s the biggest wreck I ever saw,” Klein said.
Now those affected by the CSX train derailment in 2007 could soon be compensated. A class-action settlement has been reached.
The notification tells them if they lived or worked in the area between Jan. 16 and Jan. 19, they are eligible to receive ordinary monetary benefits.
People living within 1,500 feet to one mile from the crash site could receive $574 for personal injury and inconvenience and an additional $144 for property damage.
If you live 1 to 2 miles from the site, it goes down to $344 for personal injury and inconvenience and $86 for property.
For those 2 and 31⁄2 miles away, the amount is $115 personal and $29 for property.
“I’d be satisfied for that for us,” said Klein, who lives less than a mile away from the site and hasn’t completely made up his mind but feels he might as well send in his paperwork and get what he can.
Others feel differently.
“It didn’t impact us that much, and I’ve always been the type of person… I don’t like, you know, everybody jumping on the bandwagon for a class-action thing, so we just decided to stay out of it,” Durrett said.
For the people who don’t care much about the money, they say there is one thing they do care about.
“When it rains a lot, you can smell it and we still have to ride by the debris,” Durrett said. “We’d just be happy to see that cleaned up.”
If residents already received a check from CSX, that amount will be subtracted from the money they could receive from this settlement.
Right now, this is only a proposed settlement. A hearing for a judge to approve it will be held the middle of December.
For more information, call 1-800-345-0837 or visit this website: http://www.bullittcountytrainderailment.com.