East Palestine residents react to Norfolk Sothern's motion to dismiss lawsuits
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio - On Tuesday, attorneys from Norfolk Southern filed a motion to dismiss the 31 lawsuits against them in relation to the East Palestine train derailment.
The motion claims the first car to derail did not belong to Norfolk Southern and that Norfolk Southern didn’t make the wheel bearing that allegedly “overheated” and “caused the train to derail” - but people living in the area aren’t buying it.
“They caused the actions due to their negligence,” Mike Zelemak, an East Palestine Business owner, said.
When people living in the area first heard that Norfolk Southern made a motion to dismiss these lawsuits they were frustrated and urged the courts to hold the railroad company accountable.
“If that judge dismisses the actions against Norfolk Southern something is definitely wrong,” Zelemak said.
Some lawsuits against the railroad company claim the controlled chemical release caused health issues which resident Barbara Georgescu said she's experienced.
“For two weeks I had problems with my eyes, then it went away. Now that I'm back in East Palestine it's starting to come back,” Georgescu said, adding that she also has rashes on her ankles. Georgescu has since moved out of state to try and get the health issues under control.
In the motion to dismiss, Norfolk Southern stated that those claiming they have health issues “have failed to establish that they were exposed to dioxins in an amount warranting a reasonable physician to order medical monitoring.”
Even though some people in East Palestine don’t have any symptoms some are confident this motion to dismiss wont work.
“There’s too many sick people for them to say no it's not real,” Georgescu said.
“These are innocent hard working people and they are going to try and sweep it under the rug which I knew they would,” Zelemak said.
The motion to dismiss isn’t the only thing bothering Zelemak. He feels Norfolk Southern shouldn’t be able to shut down Taggart Street in East Palestine while they clean up the tracks.
“That's a taxpayer funded road and it’s open and we are not allowed to drive on it … the town is going to die if that road is not open. Why should I be inconvenienced as a taxpayer for a road that I'm funding and not be able to drive my car,” he said.
He’s worried the business will suffer if the road isn’t opened.
“That road is a lifeline to that city,” he said.
There is no set date for the road to reopen and as of Tuesday no decision has been made by the judge on the motion to dismiss.
