(The following report appeared on The State website on August 8.)
GRANITEVILLE, S.C. — People who were evacuated for days after a deadly chlorine leak following a train wreck in Graniteville need an extra month to file claims against the railroad company, a lawyer in a class-action suit against the railroad company said Thursday.
The claim period had been extended two weeks to Aug. 15, but plaintiffs’ attorney Joe Rice wants a judge to extend the period to Sept. 15.
The extensions are needed because filling out a claim can take time and many people don’t show up with all the information they need, like proof they lived inside the one-mile area evacuated after the Jan. 6 train wreck, Rice said.
Norfolk Southern lawyers have agreed to the extension, which must be approved by a federal judge, he said. Nearly 2,000 claims have been filed.
Authorities have said 5,400 people were evacuated when a Norfolk Southern train plowed into a parked railroad cars on a side track, rupturing a tanker and spewing chlorine gas into the tiny mill village. Nine people were killed and 250 were injured.