Settlement checks related to Norfolk Southern's disastrous 2023 derailment could be delayed up to two years now because an appeal of a federal judge's decision last week to approve the $600 million deal has been filed, lawyers in the case said Monday.
Many residents of East Palestine, Ohio, expressed outrage about the appeal because it will delay the payments they had been counting on to help them recover from the toxic train crash that disrupted their lives when it spewed hazardous chemicals into their community. Some people had planned to use the money to relocate.
People in town who are frustrated they won't get their money right away lashed out at Rev. Joseph Sheely and started threatening him and his wife Monday because his name is on the appeal. Sheely did challenge the settlement this summer but said he specifically asked his lawyer to leave him out of any appeal and doesn't want any part in it. He said with the serious health concerns he and his wife developed since the derailment, they can no longer tolerate the stress of being at the center of the case.
“I was trying to do something for the residents of East Palestine, including myself,” Sheely said. “But it seems like they don’t want anybody to do anything. They just want the cash. And so I’m done. I’m so totally done.”
The plaintiffs' attorneys had hoped to start sending out the first checks before the end of the year, but that won't happen because the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will first have to address concerns about whether the deal offers enough compensation and whether residents were given enough information to decide whether it is fair.
“We will do everything in our power to quickly resolve this appeal and prevent any further burdens on the residents and local businesses that want to move forward and rebuild their lives," the plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a statement. “It is tragic that one person is substituting their judgment for the entire community who wants this settlement, and instead of opting out, they have gone this route.”
The lawyers estimated that the payments will be delayed at least six to 12 months while the appellate court considers the appeal that was filed Friday but they could be delayed even longer if the case is appealed up to the U.S. Supreme Court or sent back for additional proceedings in Judge Benita Pearson's court.
Sheely's attorney, David Graham, said the statement from the plaintiff's attorneys only served to put more pressure on his client and spurred on the threats.
“Their reckless statements have put my client in jeopardy and make my client feel unsafe in his own community,” Graham said.
The settlement offered payments of up to $70,000 per household for property damage and up to $25,000 per person for injuries to those who lived within two miles of the derailment. The payments would drop off significantly further out with only a few hundred dollars offered to people who live closer to the limit of 20 miles (32 kilometers) away.
The appeal won't increase the $162 million in legal fees and $18 million in expenses the judge awarded to the plaintiff’s attorneys last week unless the deal is overturned and new fees are awarded as part of the case.
Residents posting on the “East Palestine off the rails!” Facebook group accused the pastor who filed the appeal of being greedy because one of his objections to the deal is the frustration that any payments residents received from the railroad since the derailment to temporarily relocate or replace damaged belongings will be deducted from any settlement they receive. Some characterized that as a desire to be compensated twice for the derailment.
But the vocal few who objected to the deal have said they have deeper concerns. They have said they don't know the full extent of the chemicals they were exposed to because the plaintiff's lawyers have refused to disclose what their expert found when he tested in town and because the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't disclose everything it knows about the extent of the lingering contamination.
The town of East Palestine remains deeply divided over the derailment with some residents eager to move forward and put the disaster behind them while others who are still dealing with unexplained health problems can't see how to do that. The dispute over the appeal in the class action case only adds to the divisions.
FILE - A view of the scene Feb. 24, 2023, as cleanup continues at the site of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailment that happened on Feb. 3, in East Palestine, Ohio. (AP Photo/Matt Freed, File)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s foreign minister said Tuesday she raised allegations with her Indian counterpart that India has targeted Sikh activists in Canada.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she discussed the Canadian allegations with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar while he was in the Australian capital, Canberra.
India has denied Canada’s allegation that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the targeting of Sikh activists inside Canada.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police went public last with allegations that Indian diplomats were targeting Sikh separatists in Canada by sharing information about them with their government back home. They said top Indian officials were then passing that information along to Indian organized crime groups who were targeting the activists, who are Canadian citizens, with drive-by shootings, extortions and even murder.
Canada is not the only country that has accused Indian officials of plotting an assassination on foreign soil. The United States Justice Department announced criminal charges in mid-October against an Indian government employee in connection with an alleged foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.
The Justice Department said Vikash Yadav, who authorities say directed the New York plot from India, faces murder-for-hire charges in an alleged planned killing that prosecutors have previously said was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada.
Wong said her message to the Sikh community was that people have a right to be safe and respected in Australia, regardless of who they are.
“We’ve made clear our concerns about the allegations under investigation. We’ve said that we respect Canada’s judicial process,” Wong said at a news conference with Jaishankar.
“We convey our views to India as you would expect us to do and we have a principled position in relation to matters such as the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary and also, frankly, the sovereignty of all countries,” she added.
Jaishankar said Canada has put Indian diplomats under surveillance, which was “unacceptable.”
Australia has close intelligence-sharing ties with Canada as members of the Five Eyes alliance that also includes the United States, Britain and New Zealand.
Over the weekend, India officially protested Canada's allegation of Sikh activists being targeted there as “absurd and baseless.”
Jaishankar on Tuesday also condemned reports of vandalism at a Hindu temple near Toronto in Canada on Sunday as “deeply concerning.” In videos on social media, demonstrators carrying yellow flags in support of the Sikh separatist movement can be seen clashing with others, including some holding India's national flag, inside the temple complex. Indian consular officials were visiting the temple where the clashes erupted. It was unclear how the violence began.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the violence at the temple “unacceptable,” adding that “every Canadian has the right to practice their faith freely and safely.”
The violence drew a strong rebuke from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. “Equally appalling are the cowardly attempts to intimidate our diplomats. Such acts of violence will never weaken India’s resolve,” he wrote on the social media platform X, adding that India expects Canada to ensure justice.
A demonstration that included protesters holding India's national flag near the same temple on Monday night was ordered to disperse after Peel Regional Police said on social media that weapons were seen within the crowd. Police declared the protest an unlawful assembly, and warned anyone who remains could face arrest.
Relations between the two countries soured after Trudeau said last year there were credible evidence the Indian government had links to the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. India has vehemently rejected the accusation.
New Delhi, long anxious about Sikh separatist groups, has increasingly accused the Canadian government of giving free rein to separatists from a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan, in India.
The diplomatic row led to the expulsion of each side's top diplomats last month.
Jaishankar said, “We believe in freedoms, but we also believe freedom should not be misused.”
Trudeau has said Modi underlined to him at a G20 summit in India last year that he wanted Canada to arrest people who have been outspoken against the Indian government. Trudeau said he told Modi that he felt the actions fall within free speech in Canada.
Trudeau added that he told Modi his government would work with India on concerns about terrorism, incitement of hate or anything that is unacceptable in Canada. But Trudeau also noted that advocating for separatism, though not Canadian government policy, is not illegal in Canada.
Associated Press writer Krutika Pathi in New Delhi contributed to this report.
Activists of United Hindu Front, a right wing group reacting to Canada’s allegation that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the targeting of Sikh activists inside Canada, hold placards during a protest in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Activists of United Hindu Front, a right wing group reacting to Canada’s allegation that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the targeting of Sikh activists inside Canada, hold placards during a protest in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Activists of United Hindu Front, a right wing group reacting to Canada’s allegation that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the targeting of Sikh activists inside Canada, hold placards during a protest in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Activists of United Hindu Front, a right wing group reacting to Canada’s allegation that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the targeting of Sikh activists inside Canada, hold placards during a protest in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, left, and Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong meet at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)
