MINOT (AP) - The Canadian Pacific Railway has indicated it will admit liability in the death of a man after a 2002 derailment that sent a deadly cloud of anhydrous ammonia over this city, an attorney says.

Attorney Mike Miller, of Fargo, said the railroad notified a Minneapolis court during the past week that it will admit liability in the death of John Grabinger, 38, who died after the Jan. 18, 2002, derailment west of Minot. The railroad has declined comment.

"Canadian Pacific indicated to the court that it will admit liability for only this one case," said Miller, an attorney with the Solberg law firm of Fargo. Miller's firm has about 900 clients in a class action lawsuit against the railroad. Thousands of others also may be involved in separate legal action, he said.

"We're just not making any public comments on litigation as it moves through the judicial process," John Huber, the director of government affairs for Canadian Pacific, said Saturday.

The Grabinger case and five others are scheduled for trial in Minneapolis starting Oct. 10. They are considered test cases.

Thirty-one cars on the 112-car Canadian Pacific train derailed and five broke open early on the morning of Jan. 18, 2002. John Grabinger, who lived close to the derailment site, died and hundreds were injured when the cloud of anhydrous, a toxic farm chemical, was released over the city. Grabinger's widow filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the railroad.

Ward County Sheriff Vern Erck said Friday he had been scheduled for a deposition in the Grabinger case on Monday. He said the lawyers later called him and told him the deposition was off and would not be rescheduled.

"I'm kind of wondering what's going on," the sheriff said.

A second wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Northwest District Court in Minot earlier this month, has since been moved to federal court. That lawsuit contends David Cramer, 83, of Minot, died less than two years after the derailment of respiratory system injuries suffered from the anhydrous cloud that lingered over the city.

Miller said about 400 other plaintiffs are pursuing individual cases in state court in Minnesota. The North Dakota cases will be heard in federal court, he said.

The railroad, citing an appeals court ruling in a Nebraska case, has asked Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland in Bismarck to dismiss all claims filed in the wake of the Minot derailment. That motion is pending.

Miller said another pending motion involves the notice of the class action lawsuit to those who are a part of it. The judge is considering what kind of notice is acceptable, he said.

Miller is proposing notifying every household in Ward County that it might have a claim - potentially more than 10,000 people. The railroad says that would be more notice than is required and might result in confusion.