18 May 2009
Court Allows Suit Over Deadly Railroad Derailment
Bismarck North Dakota USA - The U.S. Supreme Court
says it won't block a lawsuit against the Canadian Pacific Railway by victims of a deadly 2002 derailment in North Dakota.
The justices declined Monday to get involved in a dispute between the Canadian Pacific and residents of Minot, N.D., who want to sue
the railroad over the January 2002 derailment that sent a cloud of toxic anhydrous ammonia farm fertilizer over the city. One man died
trying to escape the fumes and others were treated at hospitals for eye and lung problems.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland ruled in 2006 that federal law protected Canadian Pacific from claims stemming from the derailment.
Congress changed the law later that year, and a federal appeals court ruled the claims could move forward.
Hovland approved a $7 million settlement in 2007, in a class action case involving more than 3,000 victims of the derailment. The
settlement did not include those who had filed individual lawsuits or who opted out of the class action case to move forward in the
courts on their own.
Canadian Pacific attorney Tim Thornton has estimated about 30 outstanding cases remain.
Hennepin County District Judge Tony Leung in Minneapolis - where Calgary, Alberta-based Canadian Pacific has its U.S.
headquarters - set aside time in January to hear those cases.
Thornton declined comment Monday, saying he had not reviewed the U.S. Supreme Court order.
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