BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - A federal judge has given preliminary approval to a $7 million class action settlement stemming from a derailment and chemical spill on the edge of Minot five years ago.

Plaintiffs' attorneys will get one-third of the amount. Attorneys on both sides estimate the rest will be shared by about 2,000 or 3,000 people who were in Minot the day of the Jan. 18, 2002, Canadian Pacific wreck.

The settlement is for people affected by the derailment who have not filed individual lawsuits. It does not affect the hundreds of people who have individually sued the Calgary, Alberta-based railroad that has its U.S. headquarters in Minneapolis. Settlements also have been reached for most of those people, with the amounts kept private, attorneys said.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland on Monday gave his preliminary approval to the class action settlement. He is tentatively set to give final approval in early October.

"This has been a very hard-fought, contentious piece of legislation that spanned five years," said Gordon Rudd, a Minneapolis attorney for the plaintiffs.

Minot residents will be notified of the terms of the deal in the coming months, and will be given the choice of being a part of it or opting out and proceeding against the railroad on their own.