Posted on 12/23/2014 8:57:43 AM PST by Citizen Zed
A proposed settlement fund for victims of a fiery train derailment that claimed 47 lives in Canada is nearly halfway to a goal of $500 million in funding commitments ahead of its filing next month, the defunct railroad's bankruptcy trustee said.
More than a dozen corporations that face potential liability in the Lac Megantic, Quebec, oil train disaster have agreed to pay over $200 million to the fund and that sum could more than double by the time judges in the U.S. and Canada sign off, bankruptcy trustee Robert Keach told The Associated Press.
Keach, the trustee in the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railways bankruptcy case, is casting a wide net as he seeks to build the fund to compensate victims. The names of contributors and other companies targeted for contributions are confidential, he said.
"We're very proud of the fact that we've gotten to $200 million. But we have a larger goal in mind, and we're going to continue to work for that," he told the AP.
The proposed settlement will be filed by Jan. 12, a deadline for the bankruptcy proceedings in Canada, Keach said. He said he hopes the full settlement will be approved by late March or April, meaning the first payments could be made by the second anniversary of the disaster.
Much of downtown Lac Megantic was destroyed on July 6, 2013, by a raging fire caused when an unattended train with 72 oil tankers began rolling downhill toward the town of 10,000 people. More than 60 tankers derailed and several exploded. Forty-seven people died, and dozens of buildings were destroyed.
After filing for bankruptcy, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic was sold for $15.85 million but virtually all of that money went to repay creditors.
(Excerpt) Read more at timescolonist.com ...
Wonder how much the trustee and the lawyers will profit over the suffering of others...
Wonder how much the trustee and the lawyers will profit over the suffering of others...
If only there was an alternative to transporting oil by train.
Thank god it was not a pipeline accident. That might have happened in the middle of no where.
There would not be any dollars to keep the lawyers alive.
We do it for their children.
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