LAC MEGANTIC, Quebec - On Wednesday of next week, a Canadian judge decides whether to approve a $345 million U.S. dollar settlement being offered to victims of the 2013 Lac Megantic rail disaster.
Forty-seven people were killed when an unmanned train carrying crude oil exploded in the Quebec town. A firefighter who helped later took his own life.
Portland attorney Robert Keach is trustee for the bankrupt Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, which operated the train. He says approval by the Canadian judge would be a huge first step in awarding compensation to the victims and the families of those who died.
"If the court in Canada approves the plan next Wednesday, then the next step would be the approval of that same plan in the U.S. version in the United States," Keach says.
And that, he says, should be completed in August. Of the $345 million, Keach says about half is set to go to the Canadian government to pay for environmental cleanup costs. The families of the 48 victims would be getting about $90 million, he says, while the rest would be split among survivors of the tragedy.
Twenty-four of the 25 parties being sued by the fire victims have now settled. The lone holdout, says Keach, is Canadian Pacific Railway, or C-P, which played a role in operating part of the oil shipment. "C-P will be sued in four states and two countries if they don't settle," he sasys.
And Keach says that could cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars. Canadian Pacific, meanwhile, denies it has any liability for the incident, and company lawyers will argue their case in a Quebec courtroom on Monday.