A lawsuit filed against CSX claims about 300 Fayette County residents were exposed to harmful chemicals after a train carrying crude oil derailed, caught fire and exploded between Mount Carbon and Deepwater in February.
CSX and its subsidiary, CSX Transportation, failed to take the proper measures to prevent the derailment, including repairing railroad ties, which were rotted and decayed, according to the complaint filed late Tuesday in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Between 14 and 17 tanker cars derailed on Feb. 16, spilling thousands of gallons of highly flammable Bakken crude oil onto the ground and into the Kanawha River, the lawsuit states. About 300 residents had to be evacuated from the area.
Investigators haven't determined what caused the derailment. The railroad agreed in March to a long-term plan with the Environmental Protection Agency for cleaning up and restoring the area around the derailment.
The lawsuit says the company used improper and substandard welding materials and techniques to maintain its rails, and failed to warn people in the area of the dangers associated with the materials the train was transporting. Kaitlyn Barrett, a spokeswoman for CSX, could not be reached Wednesday.
Plaintiffs' skin was exposed to harmful chemicals, they breathed them in and their food and water was contaminated by them, the complaint alleges. Residents have had to spend money to clean their properties and what can't be cleaned will cause property values to diminish, the lawsuit states.
Properties should be tested to determine the extent of the contamination, attorneys wrote.
The lawsuit was filed by attorneys P. Rodney Jackson and Travis Griffith, both of Charleston, Mark Bryant and Emily Roark of Paducah, Kentucky, and the firm Fayard & Honeycutt, of Denham Springs, Louisiana.
The attorneys set up a law office in Smithers earlier this year.
Another lawsuit was filed in February against CSX in Fayette County Circuit Court, which asked for class-action status. The lawsuit was dismissed, however, after attorneys decided never to serve the complaint.
"We let all of our clients know that it was dismissed and that we weren't going to refile it and told them about the other attorneys pursuing the case," Charleston attorney Ed Hill said. It was clear other attorneys had come to the area pursuing the cases by even offering meeting with free hot dogs, Hill said.
CSX has established a claims center in Huntington to which residents and businesses can write for damages and removal costs as authorized under the Oil Pollution Control Action of 1990. Those claims could include damage to natural resources, loss of government revenue, loss of profit and increased cost of public services.
In July, CSX officials held a public information meeting in Glen Ferris, where residents expressed concerns about oil trains continuing to pass through the area.
In West Virginia, the data on where, how often and how much crude oil is rolling through the state remains hidden from the public.
The state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management formally refused to release the data following a public-records request from the Gazette-Mail last year.
Homeland Security Director Jimmy Gianato wrote that the records, which give general, county-level information but not specific routes, contain "trade secrets or confidential locations, making them exempt from the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.