The Canadian Pacific (CP) railway company is not responsible for the Lac-Mégantic tragedy, ruled the judge of the civil trial who notably rejected the class action brought against it.
The derailment of a train in Lac-Mégantic on July 6, 2013 killed 47 people and destroyed the town center of the small municipality in Estrie.
Three citizens had notably taken this collective action for all the damage suffered by its inhabitants and businesses.
In his judgment delivered on Wednesday, the magistrate explains that the actions for which they accuse the CP, “whether they are at fault or not, are not the direct, immediate and logical cause of the damage suffered by all the victims”.
Rather, responsibility rests with the last driver of the convoy, Thomas Harding, and the company that employed him, the Montreal Maine & Atlantic Canada Company (MMA)—now bankrupt.
More details will follow.
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