By Patrick Fitzgerald
Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd., the company behind a
deadly 2013 oil train derailment in Quebec, Monday has another $110
million for its fund to help compensate the victims of the
crash.
World Fuels Services, the company that owned the oil shipment,
said it has agreed to pay into the compensation fund established
for the victims of the derailment. The oil supplier's contribution
brings the amount raised for the victims' fund to $345 million
(C$431,500,000).
MM&A sought the protection of U.S. and Canadian courts in
August 2013 after being hit with an avalanche of personal-injury,
wrongful-death and environmental claims following the derailment of
an unmanned train carrying crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken
region, which leveled the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, and killed
47 people.
The bankruptcy professionals administering the fund praised WFS
on Monday "for its good corporate citizenship" in agreeing to the
settlement. The deal leaves Canadian Pacific Railway, which
transported the oil to Montreal, as the sole defendant not to
settle.
"We only wish CP were showing similar citizenship," said Robert
J. Keach, the court-appointed trustee overseeing MM&A's U.S.
bankruptcy case.
Canadian Pacific declined to comment.
Government agencies, including the Province of Quebec, the city
of Lac-Mégantic and the Canadian government, are in line for the
largest share of the funds, followed by the families of those who
died and were injured by the crash.
The 2013 accident, which Canadian regulators blamed on
MM&A's alleged "weak safety culture" as well as inadequate
government oversight, has spurred regulators in both Canada and the
U.S. to push for stricter rules governing oil transport.
Sara Randazzo
contributed to this article.
Write to Patrick Fitzgerald at patrick.fitzgerald@wsj.com
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