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(NewsNation) — Some East Palestine residents who joined a $600 million class-action settlement against Norfolk Southern are seeking to withdraw from the agreement, claiming attorneys deceived them about their health prospects and potential compensation.
Austin Druckenbrod, 27, who worked a mile from the derailment site when officials conducted a burn of toxic chemicals in February 2023, said he was promised millions in compensation but now wants to file an individual lawsuit.
The Cleveland Clinic diagnosed Druckenbrod with reactive airway disease linked to chemical exposure from the train derailment. Brain scans show extreme swelling compared to normal scans, and he has experienced breathing dysfunction, coughing up blood and other severe symptoms.
"It's ruined my life in every way that I could possibly imagine," Druckenbrod told NewsNation.
His current attorney, Mindy Bish, alleges class-action lawyers concealed his case to prevent other residents from learning that doctors were capable of making exposure-related diagnoses.
FILE - A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE - This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed the night before burn in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE - Cleanup continues, Feb. 24, 2023, at the site of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailment that happened on Feb. 3, in East Palestine, Ohio. (AP Photo/Matt Freed, File)
This video screenshot released by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows the site of a derailed freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, the United States. About 50 Norfolk Southern freight train cars derailed on the night of Feb. 3 in East Palestine, a town of 4,800 residents near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, due to a mechanical problem on an axle of one of the vehicles. There were a total of 20 hazardous material cars in the train consist, 10 of which derailed, according to the NTSB, a U.S. government agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. (NTSB/Handout via Xinhua)
This video screenshot released by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows the site of a derailed freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, the United States. About 50 Norfolk Southern freight train cars derailed on the night of Feb. 3 in East Palestine, a town of 4,800 residents near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, due to a mechanical problem on an axle of one of the vehicles.
There were a total of 20 hazardous material cars in the train consist, 10 of which derailed, according to the NTSB, a U.S. government agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. (NTSB/Handout via Xinhua)
"The class-action attorneys hid him, and they hid him so that no one else in East Palestine would know that there were doctors capable of making a diagnosis related to exposure," Bish said.
Attorneys allegedly misled residents about health risks and compensation
Attorney Melinda Young, who also represents Druckenbrod, said class-action attorneys brought in a doctor who told residents to expect no long-term health consequences from the exposure to encourage participation in the settlement.
"The levels that people were exposed to were so small that we don't expect any cancers or health effects from those," the doctor said in a video presentation to residents.
Young said when the court asked if attorneys had made such assurances, "the class-action attorneys misrepresented that fact to the judge and told the judge they never told anyone that — which was just not true."
Druckenbrod's former attorney, Mikal Watts, denied the characterizations, saying, “I did not communicate with him to stay quiet. If he believed that he had a personal injury claim worth pursuing, we certainly advocated for those clients to simply opt out and continue to pursue the personal injury litigation.”
The controversy comes as Norfolk Southern recently declared cleanup from the disaster complete, stating on its website that the site was restored. However, independent testing suggests toxins remain in the area.
"The cancers have started. People are starting to get diagnoses that say, go home and get your affairs in order, 24-year-olds who are now 27 like Austin," Bish said. "These attorneys could have found the truth and could have taken care of East Palestine, and they chose money over their clients."
The attorneys plan to file a motion in federal court seeking to release Druckenbrod and other residents from the settlement so they can pursue individual lawsuits.
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