Quebec Quebec - A Quebec Superior Court judge says Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) is not liable in the 2013 Lake Megantic railway disaster that killed 47 people.
 
Justice Martin Bureau ruled Wednesday that the actions the railway company was accused of are not the direct, immediate, and logical cause of the damages suffered by the victims of the tragedy.
 
Bureau says the fault for the disaster lies with the train conductor, Thomas Harding, and with Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway Limited (MMA) , Harding's employer and owner of the runaway train.
 
CP is the only company accused of responsibility in the derailment that did not participate in a $430 million settlement fund for victims, which was created as part of a class-action lawsuit involving almost 4,000 people.
 
The company maintained it bore no responsibility for the disaster because the train was not operated by CP employees or travelling on CP tracks when it derailed.
 
On 6 Jul 2013 an unmanned train carrying crude oil and owned by MMA roared into Lake Megantic and derailed, with its cargo exploding and decimating part of the downtown core and killing 47 people.
 
Author unknown.