| In February 2023, a freight train derailed and exploded in East Palestine, Ohio, inundating a community in toxic chemicals and triggering a national reckoning over lax safety regulations for the thousands of trains passing through American communities every day. Now, on the three-year anniversary of the catastrophe, the railroad, lawyers, and administrators involved in a “historic” $600 million settlement related to the case have all been compensated — while most of the victims are still waiting to be paid.
In a deeply reported, on-the-ground investigation, the award-winning team at The Lever dug into how the class-action settlement process has broken down: months-long delays, denied claims, mistaken payouts, private-equity-backed administrators siphoning off millions in fees, and growing court fights accusing lawyers of misleading clients into signing away future claims for payouts that may never arrive. |
