Canada Ping!
Posted on 08/08/2013 5:30:49 AM PDT by thackney
A rail company whose runaway oil train caused a fire and explosion that killed 47 people in a small town in Canada filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Canada on Wednesday, and an attorney said he expects company executives to explore putting it up for sale within weeks.
In its filings, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd. and its Canadian counterpart, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Canada Co., cited debts to more than 200 creditors following the disaster in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.
Attorney Peter Flowers, who represents 30 of the victims’ families, accused company Chairman Ed Burkhardt of trying to use the legal system to shield his companies from legal responsibility.
“It’s totally outrageous. It’s sickening. It’s a guy that has refused to take responsibility for the natural disaster that he caused,” Flowers said from Chicago.
Burkhardt said previously that a company bankruptcy filing was likely following rail service disruptions because its rail line remains closed in Lac-Megantic. The Hermon-based company, which continues to operate, faces lawsuits and enormous cleanup costs following the July 6 disaster.
(Excerpt) Read more at fuelfix.com ...
RR is definitely trying to reorganize so that the assets won’t be reachable by the plaintiffs..............rotten filthy cheaters, of course the plaintiffs probably all want to become multimillionaires off the tragedy
what a mess
still a few million couldn’t possibly replace my family member.........
what a mess
It’s a guy that has refused to take responsibility for the natural disaster that he caused.
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I wouldn’t call a trainload of oil that was left idling by itself, and ran away a natural Disaster.
More like a FUBAR.
And Obama refuses to let us build a pipeline, because his buddy Buffet is making millions with his trains.
Canada Ping!
What did the investigation reveal? Where union rules any way responsible as they are in most RR accidents??
It seems the root cause would be the sole engineer who left the train without setting enough hand brakes to hold the train on the incline if the air pressure fell for a length of time. The train procedure requires those hand brakes to be set and the times of shutdown versus when he got to hotel shows there was no way he could have set enough hand brakes.
Good point. Railroad bankrupt, go after the union. Anything to poke a finger in union eyes is good.
Did I ever mention I hate unions?
The thing that gets ME is, a burst pipeline (worst case scenerio) may cost a couple of mil in cleanup of land ... a derailment costs everything just to meet needs.
And Obama refuses to let us build a pipeline, because his buddy Buffet is making millions with his trains.
First, the pipeline would not have hauled that oil where it was going. Second, there would still be a tremendous amount of oil transported from the Williston Basin by rail, just because the pipelines can not carry present production, and anticipated increases in pipeline capacity won't either (just not enough surplus capacity).
As for Buffett, it was no secret that the pipelines were woefully inadequate, and that oil terminals were being constructed to transport the oil by rail because of that. Buffett just did what any savvy investor could have done, just with a lot more money to do it--he bought stock in the railroad that was going to haul the oil.
The attorney, Mr. Flowers, seems to be accusing the company head of causing the accident, when it was actually the guy who didn’t set enough hand brakes who did it. I understand that the company will be held responsible because it was their employee, but I don’t see any indication that they are trying to avoid paying anybody. All I see is a company that is suddenly faced with having to pay up an awful lot for this accident - is simply scrambling to figure out how its going to do that. This company isn’t that huge of a company. They suffered their own losses, as well as the losses of those families who lost loved ones, as well as the environmental damage done in that town that they are having to pay for, as well as the loss of almost half of their employees that had to be laid off. Didn’t we also read back when this happened, that some of the company’s employees also died in the accident? They have also, of course, lost business after this. They are in the hole financially in a really big way. You don’t suddenly cough up that kind of money to pay everyone back all at once, when you’re this company’s size. This isn’t Exxon-Mobile we’re talking about. I’m not necessarily trying to take their side against anybody, I just wish people would really think things through. It’s understandable that the families are beyond upset and would want compensation. Who wouldn’t? But accusing the whole company and its president of being evil villains for an accident, is a bit of a stretch. They didn’t cause the incident on purpose. Yes, they need to take responsibility for it and make reparations. But I don’t see any evidence that they are trying to avoid doing that. I only see that they are finding that they might not have all the money to pay everyone all at once. Surely that could be seen as understandable, rather than as an excuse for petty name-calling. The tragedy struck both sides. A little patience would go a long way. That’s my view anyway.
a couple items. While the president wasn’t directly responsible for setting hand brakes, this company, I assume under his direction or approval, petitioned and won relief from Canada’s requirement to have 2 people on these type trains; there was only one other company that did that. Canada has revoked that since this accident.
Also, this relatively small Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway is entirely owned by the larger Rail World, inc of Chicago.
They had no employees left on the train; it was unattended, a significant factor in the coasting downhill to the wreck. They could not have lost any employees; none were there.
I didn’t know they were owned by Chicago, Inc. But I didn’t mean employees on the train that was sitting there but rather on the train that had passengers that plowed into this mess. I had read that one man from this town had a daughter and daughter-in-law that both died on the train and one of them was an employee of this company, as was the father himself. Maybe I got wrong info, but that’s what I read.
No passengers. This train only carried crude oil. All that were killed and injured were already in the town when the train rolled through and derailed.
Wow! The article I read had it all messed up then. It said it was a passenger train, that plowed into oil cars that had not been locked down. Makes me wonder if the article was also incorrect on the employees that died from the crash.
It has to be, there were no employees on site until after the crash.
It sounds like a completely different wreck. This was one train, left unattended, that eventually rolled down hill due to combination of events. It went for miles before it came to a turn it couldn't make at speed and took out a bar and surrounding buildings and vehicles.
The story linked below is the best timeline of events I have found.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/M%C3%A9gantic+fire+timeline/8626739/story.html
Why do you think any more brakes would have been set if there had been 2 employees ? Town firemen shut down engine. It hasn’t been determined WHAT exploded and caused crude fire. Butane?
propane ?
also pipeline moved crude could have caused tankers to be used to ship oil to Irving refinery on the coast. Things aren’t all that simple.
This is a way to consolodate and provide finality.
There is nothing wrong here, they are doing the legally correct action.
This way it is one judge and one courtroom instead of hundreds.
If they can function and continue to pay based on a reorganization plan then good. (creditors do get to vote on this)
If they can’t reorganize, then the creditors, after the secured creditors take their collateral, will get pennies on the dollar.
Also, this does nothing to stop insurance liability claims.
Obviously they did way more damage then can be covered by the value of all the assets of the company.
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