Nineteen Illinois Wrongful Death Suits Stemming from Lac-Mégantic Train Derailment Transferred to Maine
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maine granted a motion to transfer nineteen wrongful death cases filed in Illinois following the July 6, 2013 derailment of a train carrying Bakken crude oil that exploded and killed 47 people in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine “based on the Court’s limited finding that claims against certain of the defendants named therein are related to the Railway’s bankruptcy.” Although it acknowledged that “there may be no basis for federal jurisdiction other than bankruptcy relatedness,” the Court declined to exercise its discretion to abstain, and accepted jurisdiction of the Illinois wrongful death suits.