Trending
LISBON -- Village council members recently heard a presentation by attorney Marc Dann of Dann Law and Tim Fox of Morgan & Morgan Law Firm about joining a class action lawsuit over the East Palestine train derailment.
No decision was made on whether the village will jump aboard, but village solicitor Alec Beech will review a proposed agreement and report back to council.
Mayor Peter Wilson had raised the issue during the previous council meeting, talking about plans by the city of Salem to possibly join the lawsuit and the issues to consider, such as the establishment of a medical trust fund that could be used by first responders who may develop illnesses in the future from their exposure to dangerous chemicals at the scene. The village had eight firefighters who responded to the scene the night of the Feb. 3 derailment.
Dann, who previously served as a state senator and Ohio Attorney General, advised that governments have a unique set of claims, noting that firefighters who develop cancer later in life could present a possible workers' compensation claim against the village, plus workers' compensation yearly premiums could increase. Setting up a medical trust fund would be something they could do as part of the lawsuit.
He also spoke highly of Morgan & Morgan, a law firm with deep pockets and experts and a staff of 850 lawyers, including Mike Morgan who was proposed as part of the leadership committee for the case in federal court. Dann is working with Morgan & Morgan.
Fox, who previously served as the Montana Attorney General, said his background includes a lot of environmental work and their team wants to focus on representing government entities related to the derailment. He acknowledged that the village had already sent a bill to
Norfolk Southern, which Fire Chief Mark Hall reported has already been reimbursed.
"The more important issue here is the human factor. There are a lot of unknowns in terms of long-term health," Fox said.
He said it's important to get baseline testing and set up long-term medical monitoring, a trust fund and consider the need for additional water testing and consider the additional burden on workers' compensation and rise in premiums.
The law firm would charge a 25 percent contingency fee from any settlement.
"There's not a lot of risk here," Dann said.
Questions from council members ranged from how the trust fund would work to how firefighters would prove a cancer diagnosis resulted from the derailment.
In other business, council approved a resolution to participate in the Ohio Department of Transportation road salt contract for up to 75 tons of salt; accepted a grant for 12 bullet proof vests for the police department at a cost of $14,218, with the village to pay 25 percent of the cost or $3,554; agreed to pay $29,030 to Boak & Sons for repairs to the fire station roof; and was notified about the Johnny Appleseed Festival using the streets downtown Sept. 16 and 17.
Council approved first reading on an ordinance to update the litter removal rules, which village solicitor Alec Beech said was necessary to strengthen the language after there were issues in court with how the ordinance was written.
Plans were also made for Beech to review the necessity for rules regarding bed and breakfast facilities or Airbnbs.
Chris McLaughlin of McLaughlin's Martial Arts on Park Avenue offered his thanks to the community and area businesses for their support for a recent martial arts tournament his dojo hosted at the high school in February, with 197 competitors coming from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, West Virginia and Kentucky. He's also making plans for next year's tournament and said the dojo is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year.
Wilson thanked the village's first responders for their handling of calls during recent wind storms and power outages and said he's requesting department heads to update their emergency plans.
The next village council meeting will be 6:30 p.m. April 11 at village hall.