Aerial photo of the Minot derailment - Date/Photographer unknown.

12 July 2012

Last of Settlement Money from Lawsuit Over Deadly 2002 Minot Derailment Going to Charity

Bismarck North Dakota USA - The last bit of money from a class-action settlement over a disastrous train derailment in North Dakota a decade ago is going to a charity near the site of the wreck.
 
Canadian Pacific Railway agreed about five years ago to pay US$7 million to settle claims stemming from the January 2002 derailment.
 
The derailed train sent a cloud of toxic anhydrous ammonia, a farm chemical used to fertilize crops, over North Dakota's fourth-largest city. One man was killed and hundreds more had to seek medical help.
 
Just short of US$3 million from the settlement went to the plaintiffs' lawyers, and about US$4 million was doled out to about 3,200 Minot residents.
 
That left about US$7,100. A federal judge this week approved a motion by the plaintiffs to give the money to the Northern Lights Chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
 
Author unknown.