Businesses Sue Over NJ Derailment

Businesses are the latest to sue over a freight train derailment in South Jersey.

They contend they suffered economic losses and their families faced health risks when a Conrail train derailed on a bridge over Mantua Creek in Paulsboro in November.

No one was seriously sickened, but more than 300 homes and businesses were evacuated for parts of the following week.

Conrail spokesman Michael Hotra tells The Courier-Post of Cherry Hill the railroad will respond to the lawsuits in the courts.

In the months after the derailment more than 250 peoples have sued Conrail and its parent company CSX over the freight train derailment that released hazardous chemicals.

The ruptured tanker car released vinyl chloride, a gas used to make PVC plastic, after a half dozen cars of an 84-car train derailed on or near a swivel-style bridge over Mantua Creek on Nov. 30.

"We know that information was never communicated to the first responders, they were out there in a toxic cloud without any protection whatsoever," said lawyer Mark Cuker, one of the attorneys representing the first responders said when his clients sued. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us