EAST PALESTINE — Meritless. That’s what Norfolk Southern legal counsel called the request by some residents in East Palestine and surrounding communities to be let out of last year’s $600 million class action settlement.

In a filing Friday arguing against the motion filed last week by over 100 class members that accused class counsel of fraud and tricking them into signing up for the settlement, railroad attorney Alan Schoenfeld wrote that residents “fail to point to any material, new information that was not publicly available before the settlement was approved, much less any such information that was fraudulently concealed by class counsel.”

“Instead,” Schoenfeld continued, “the motions are premised on the same misguided claims about environmental harm and exposure that objectors and their supporters repeatedly aired in public filings before the final approval of the settlement.”

Schoenfeld chalked up the request by residents — also known as movants in court documents — to be released from the agreement as nothing more than a “do-over” a year after the settlement was approved.

“Movants seek an untimely and meritless do-over to exclude themselves from the settlement, or void the personal injury releases they individually signed, or both — based on information that has long been in the public sphere and in the record in this case,” Schoenfeld argued. “The court correctly concluded in August 2024 that class members ‘had multiple channels through which to investigate their options in this settlement.’ Movants may regret not having taken advantage of those multiple options until after the settlement was approved, but that is no basis to unwind that settlement and award movants the do-over they seek.”

Schoenfeld said that the reasons cited by movants to be let out of the settlement are the same concerns brought up as objections before final approval was granted. U.S. District Judge Pearson overruled all 84 of those objections which included claims that class counsel withheld or suppressed evidence, the personal injury payments were not high enough and the settlement did not adequately compensate class members for their damages. Pearson ruled that all class members who objected to the settlement but did not opt-out were bound by the terms of the settlement.

Last week, residents doubled down on claims that class counsel misled the public, hid proof of chemical exposure and minimized the health risks caused by the rail disaster and chemical release in the motion for relief from the settlement.

Five residents appealed the final approval on similar grounds and are awaiting a decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the $850,000 appeal bond they were ordered to pay in order for the appeal process to continue.

The appeal halted direct payments of up to $70,000 per household within 20 miles of the derailment but were to have no impact on the personal injury payments which were promised within 30 days of final approval – appeal or no appeal – but the bulk of that compensation remains undistributed.

Schoenfeld said the railroad has held up its end of the bargain and forked over more than half of the $600 million within two weeks of final approval.

“Norfolk Southern is committed to the East Palestine community and seeks to ensure that the community is compensated in accordance with the terms of the $600 million Settlement it agreed to,” he wrote. “To that end, Norfolk Southern has strictly complied with all terms of the settlement, including the timely payment of all required monetary amounts to date. Specifically, Norfolk Southern paid a total of $315 million as of October 11, 2024, with the remaining $285 million on hold pending resolution of objectors’ appeals challenging the settlement.”