Jul 29, 2007 - 04:03:35 CDT
MINOT (AP) - Members of the North Dakota congressional delegation say a new law should help victims of the 2002 train derailment that killed one man and injured hundreds here.A homeland security bill with provisions related to rail safety passed the U.S. Senate late Thursday night and the U.S. House on Friday. The bill says that the Federal Railroad Safety Act doesn't prevent people from collecting in personal-injury lawsuits brought against railroads.
Sen. Kent Conrad and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., said President Bush is expected to sign the bill.
The change in the Federal Railroad Safety Act is retroactive to Jan. 18, 2002, when a derailment on the west edge of Minot released a cloud of anhydrous ammonia, a toxic farm fertilizer. One man, John Grabinger, died trying to escape and hundreds of other people were treated for burns and breathing problems.
Federal courts have ruled that victims of the derailment could not sue Canadian Pacific Railway because of a 1970 law. The congressional delegation says the new provision will change that.
"People were told you can't sue in state court because it's pre-empted by federal law, and you can't sue under federal law because there's no provision to do so," Conrad said. "It was such a Catch-22 for people."
Law firms in Fargo and Minneapolis in early May said they had reached agreement with the railroad to settle the majority of cases that arose from the wreck, after years of legal wrangling.
Canadian Pacific has declined to comment on settlement negotiations.
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