(The Lafayette Daily Advertiser posted the following article by Richard Burgess on its website on September 19.)
LAFAYETTE, La. — Attorneys overseeing the payout of a $65 million settlement in a lawsuit over the May 2000 Eunice train derailment have a few questions for some of the 12,200 people who submitted claims for a share of the money.
“There is a lot of suspicion that some of these aren’t legitimate claims,” said Eunice attorney Terry Hoychick. “For instance, we had someone who said they were at the Chick-fil-A (restaurant) in Eunice during the derailment. Well, we don’t have a Chick-fil-A.”
Nearly 500 people have been summoned to the federal courthouse in Lafayette on Tuesday and Wednesday to answer questions about their claims in the settlement, which was reached in May with Union Pacific Railroad Co. to pay for the inconvenience of the evacuation after the accident and exposure to fumes from hazardous chemicals that leaked from wrecked rail cars.
“It’s to review the quality of the claims and assure there is no fraud. … We have a duty to the class to make sure the right people get the money,” said Kenneth Dejean, one of two attorneys appointed to manage the disbursement of settlement money.
Hoychick said most of the questionable claims involve out-of-towners who said they were in Eunice at the time of the derailment.
“There are a lot of people who were here legitimately. It was a holiday weekend (Memorial Day) and there were a few weddings in town,” Hoychick said.
Still, he is suspicious.
In the initial period that the lawsuit claims office was open, 75 percent of the 10,600 people who filed claims were Eunice residents, according to Hoychick. When the office reopened as the settlement was being finalized, 75 percent of the 1,600 additional claimants were not from Eunice.
“So, something is greatly out of proportion,” Hoychick said.
Those summoned next week will have the opportunity to explain their claims. If the explanations aren’t convincing, the claims will be voided, Dejean said. Rejected plaintiffs could appeal their ouster, he said.
Assuming the maximum allowable attorneys fees of 40 percent, each plaintiff could receive roughly $3,000.
The amount paid to each person will be determined through a review process over the next few months.