(The following article by Christi Mathis was posted on the Southern Illinoisian website on December 10.)
TAMAROA, Ill. — The lawsuit filed by nearly 500 Tamaroa residents against the Canadian National Railway/Illinois Central Railroad is on hold once again after the Illinois Supreme Court made a ruling on the railroad’s petition to appeal the class action certification of the suit.
The Supreme Court decided, in a ruling made public late last week, that the court would not grant the motion’s request to hear an appeal on the class certification. But in so doing, the court also issued a supervisory order directing the Fifth District Appellate Court to vacate its order denying the railroad’s petition to appeal and then agree to hear the appeal of the class certification on its merits.
The appellate court has yet to issue that order or set a date for hearing an appeal. Attorneys for the plaintiffs seeking damages from the railroad for the February 2003 derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials in Tamaroa said the ruling is not a major problem for them.
“We’ve talked it over with all our people and we don’t read anything into it,” said Attorney Joe Leberman. “This action will go forward either way. It’s either a class action or we have 498 individual plaintiffs.”
The ruling does, however, put everything on hold. Leberman said his clients may ask the court to allow the discovery process to continue pending a ruling on the class certification issue but as of now, nothing is happening and no court dates set said Leberman, of the law firm Bryant and Kautz of Marion and Metropolis.
The suit was filed in July 2003 by about 375 plaintiffs and many more have joined since. It was initially filed in federal court and that court had denied the railroad’s motion to dismiss but did agree to move the case to Perry County although hearings prior to the actual trial remain in St. Clair County.
The suit was filed on behalf of Marvin and Roberta Smith, Pam Runnells, Mark Chaney, Teddie Maxton, Max Dearmon, Thomas Trigg, Cheryl Trigg, Klaudine Kwiatakowski, Larry and Shirley Galbraith individually and as representatives of members of the class against the Illinois Central Railroad Co., doing business as the Canadian National Railway/Illinois Central Railroad. The suit alleges the railroad offered insufficient compensation for personal and property damages resulting from the train derailment and spill of “hazardous, toxic and carcinogenic” materials.
Tamaroa residents were evacuated from their homes for up to five days after the derailment. CN/ICG offered reimbursement for “reasonable” expenses for those displaced from their homes along with a stipend of $50 per adult per day and $25 per child, up to $100 per family to compensate for the inconvenience.
About 1,000 area residents accepted the settlement offer but some have now become plaintiffs in the suit. Railroad officials have continually declined comment while the litigation is pending.