COLUMBIA - Norfolk Southern has filed a lawsuit asking 10 companies to preserve the railroad cars and other evidence in the train derailment and chlorine gas leak that caused nine deaths earlier this month in Graniteville.
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The Virginia-based railroad, which had revenues last year of more than $5 billion, could be planning lawsuits against other companies involved in the transportation, some lawyers say.
The railroad is asking a federal judge to order the three chlorine cars and some evidence to be kept, according to court documents obtained by The (Columbia) State.
Norfolk Southern could face tens of millions of dollars in damages from the wreck, plaintiffs' lawyers say. As of Tuesday, at least a dozen suits had been filed.
It is a "legitimate possibility" that Norfolk Southern might be aiming to sue other companies, but it would be difficult for them to prove anyone else is liable, University of South Carolina law professor James Flanagan said.
"You would have to show that the cars were defectively manufactured in some way," he said.
Norfolk spokesman Robin Chapman said the railroad isn't looking to spread the liability with the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Aiken eight days after the wreck.
"That is not the intent of the suit," he said. "It's just simply to ask the court to assume jurisdiction over the evidence so there is no argument later over the handling of the evidence."
Miami lawyer Howard Spier said the railroad is trying to move some of the state suits against it into federal court to make it more difficult for them to be certified as a class-action case. His firm has filed five suits against them.
Special Section: Graniteville Train Wreck
On January 6, 2005, a Norfolk Southern Corp. freight train carrying chemicals hit a parked train near an Avondale Mills plant in Graniteville, South Carolina. The impact caused poisonous chlorine gas to leak from three of the moving train's cars. Nine people were killed and more than 5,000 people were evacuated from the site.
For complete coverage of the Graniteville train wreck, visit our special section.
