In Ohio, nearly 900 residents say settlement lawyers hid carcinogen data: 'I was duped'

In East Palestine, Ohio, nearly 900 people are suing the lawyers connected to Norfolk Southern's $600 million derailment settlement, NewsNation reported. The residents argue they gave up future injury claims before they could see contamination information they needed to evaluate that decision.

Many families still fear health consequences and see the new lawsuits as evidence that the settlement didn't provide closure, but instead marked another breach of trust.

Here's what to know

The residents' cases name class action attorneys, physician Arch "Chip" Carson, public relations firms, and Erin Brockovich's legal advocacy group, East Palestine Justice. The complaints accuse those parties of malice and civil conspiracy and focus on whether residents were pushed to waive future personal injury claims without the testing data needed to make an informed decision.

Attorney Mindy Bish, who represents residents in the new cases, told NewsNation: "The attorneys who were involved in this case defrauded at worst, and at best, were negligent." 

She also alleged they "were only looking to take care of their own fees."

Under the lawsuits' account, residents were told they would receive $25,000 for voluntarily releasing future personal injury claims, but the value of those claims was later reduced. The filings contrast that with the $162 million in fees and another $18 million in expenses allegedly received by the class action attorneys.

Resident Linda Murphy said, "I was duped." 

Resident Austin Druckenbrod added, "I believe I was manipulated."

More background

Stephen Petty's testing work is one of the main disputes in the new litigation. NewsNation reported that Petty, an industrial hygienist and exposure-warnings expert hired by class counsel, analyzed 2023 and 2024 data showing soil samples with dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, above U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cancer-screening thresholds.

"Somewhere between 50% and 70% of the data points, whether they be for dioxins or for PAHs, exceeded screening levels. Cancer screening levels," Petty said. "You have to do further analysis to see what needs to be done from a remediation standpoint. And you also have to do further analysis to determine what it means for people in that environment. We can't just walk away from those results. There is a problem there."

Residents said they were given a very different impression. 

East Palestine resident Beth Kosar said, "Petty's test results were always really secret," adding that residents were told disclosure "would hurt the case."

Murphy also shared a recording from a June 2024 meeting with class counsel in which speakers can be heard saying, "The data is nowhere near as bad as we thought it was going to be when this first happened" and that proving long-term chronic illness from the exposure was "virtually unprovable for any long-term chronic future illness like cancer."

What's being done?

Through the new lawsuits, residents are seeking accountability from the settlement lawyers and the other named parties over the way the agreement was presented. The suits claim the defendants coordinated to persuade Ohio and Pennsylvania residents that any health danger was insignificant, making them more likely to accept settlement payments.

The complaints also said Norfolk Southern could end the settlement if participation did not meet a required threshold, a detail residents cite in arguing that the information provided before they signed away future claims carried unusually high stakes.

Another focus of the complaints is Dr. Carson, the principal of Environmental Medicine Consultants and with the University of Cincinnati, who said he appeared in a video shown to residents. In that video, Carson said, "There will not be any long-term health impact of chemical exposure from the derailment to community members of East Palestine."

Petty disputed that claim.

"The argument that there's nothing to see here is factually false," he told NewsNation. "Multiple people saying there's nothing to see here are just flat out either lying or wrong."

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