EAST PALESTINE — In a ruling in Youngstown’s U.S. District Court, federal Judge Benita Pearson confirmed what class members of the $600 million settlement with Norfolk Southern have long insisted — Kroll Administration fumbled the ball.

On Wednesday, Pearson ordered the removal of New York-based Kroll as the court-appointed settlement administrator responsible for the processing claims, determining award amounts and distributing funds to the more than 55,000 claims filed against the railroad as part of the class action settlement. Global firm Epiq has been named the “substitute settlement administrator.”

“The court finds sufficient reason to believe that Kroll has not fulfilled its obligation to adequately administer the settlement and related court orders including, but not limited to, the court’s order approving and implementing the Plan of Distribution,” the order states.

“Kroll’s appointment as settlement administrator in the class action settlement is suspended and terminated, relieving it of the rights, duties and obligations of that position except as directed and ordered by the court.”

According to court documents filed on Sept. 6, two weeks before Pearson gave final approval of the settlement, Kroll had already billed co-counsel “for $2,361,940.74 for administrative expenses” and estimated that it would “bill an additional $14.6 million to complete administration of the settlement.” Kroll was taxed with processing both the direct payments (or property damages) and personal injury damages. An appeal of the final ruling put direct payments on hold. However, the personal injury payments were not impacted by the appeal process and were supposed to begin almost immediately.

That was nine months ago and the majority of residents who lived or worked within 10 miles of the disaster eligible for the personal injury payments are still waiting.

A handful of claimants have reported receiving funds and some of the amounts distributed were much lower than expected. The Morning Journal was provided with determination letters (letters sent out six weeks before the deposit of funds that determined the exact dollars an individual would receive) as low as $200.

A class member had two weeks to accept or challenge the amount determined by an allocation system. That system, as explained in the court-approved Plan of Distribution, awards a “base” of 100 points equivalent to a $25,000 share of the Voluntary Exposure Supplement program. The “base case” is therefore entitled to $25,000 per person with other individuals’ payments increasing or decreasing from the “base case” depending on the factors presented in their claim forms.

Eight factors are considered — location from derailment site, location direction from derailment site, timing of physical presence in impacted areas, age at the time of the derailment, if symptoms were experienced, the nature of symptoms, medical treatment received and if a diagnosis was given by a physician with each category also having sub factors. For example, a person, age 35, living 1.5 miles from the derailment site on Feb. 6, 2023 who reported symptoms of headaches and sore throat, but did not seek medical treatment and did not receive a formal diagnosis would score 90 points out of a possible 100 and receive $22,500. A person, age 48, living 7.3 miles away with reported exposure but no symptoms stands to get just six points or $1,500.

Kroll’s calculations of that formula ultimately led to Pearson giving the company the boot.