Thursday, 22 August 2013

Legal Ramifications of Lac Mégantic and Who is Responsible for Train Disaster



Monday August 26th at 7pm
On Radio Shalom 1650AM

Money and Business with Samuel Ezerzer

http://www.radio-shalom.ca/site/emissions-1042
listen live 


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Lac Mégantic: Brief Overview of some key facts:   

MMA=  Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, Parent company is Rail World.
A runaway MM&A train carrying crude oil derailed in the early morning darkness of July 6, triggering an explosion in the centre of Lac Mégantic that killed 47 people and levelled some 40 buildings. It is the worst rail accident on the continent since 1918.

Lawyers for victims of the disaster said they expected the bankruptcy filing, calling it an attempt by Mr. Burkhardt and parent company Rail World to limit their own liability by claiming they can’t be held responsible for the actions of a subsidiary.



Investigators probing the crash have said that the train rolled away because there wasn’t enough brake power applied. 


The lone engineer running the 72-car train left the rig unattended on the main line after he went to a hotel in town for the night.

Toronto-based insurer Intact Financial Corp. said July 22 that it would record after-tax catastrophe losses of $123-million in its second quarter financial results, estimating the impact of the Lac Mégantic disaster to its bottom line at $25-million.



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Biography: 


Me Adam Eidelmann of Legal Logik Inc.
Areas of practice: Civil and commercial litigation, corporate law.  We also have a division which deals exclusively with traffic violations called Ticket Aide Inc.


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KEY HIGHLIGHTS 


Defendants named in class action suit:

A motion to file a class-action lawsuit over the deadly train derailment in Lac-Megantic, Que., has been amended to include more defendants, including the New Brunswick refinery where the oil aboard the locomotive was destined to go.

A team of lawyers leading the lawsuit say in a news release the motion has been changed to include Irving Oil, which runs the refinery in Saint John, N.B., World Fuel Services and its subsidiary, Dakota Plains Holdings.

The train was carrying crude oil sold by Dakota Plains Holdings at the time of the July 6 derailment.

The lawyers allege that the newly named defendants failed to ensure the highly flammable contents in the tankers were properly contained and safely transported.

None of the allegations has been tested in court.

The team of lawyers say the motion was amended to indicate that the liability for the accident is allegedly spread across a broad network of corporations.

The motion filed Monday in Quebec Superior Court in Sherbrooke also names the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, company chairman Edward Burkhardt, president Robert Grindrod and train operator Tom Harding.


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Program Name: Money and Business with Samuel Ezerzer
Hours : Wednesday live at 4pm, rebroadcasted Sunday at 3am and Monday at 7pm.
Description: The Money & Business Show is the only pure Business show, live in-studio direct from Montreal. The show focuses primarily on the Canadian, United States, and the international economy through a Canadian lens. The show is informative, exciting, and sometimes controversial, encouraging healthy debate.

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