The Sixth Circuit recently rejected the medical monitoring claims of a putative class of residents of a small Ohio town who alleged exposure to chemicals released after a CSX Transportation Inc. train accidentally derailed. Jonathan Hirsch et al. v. CSX Transportation Inc., No. 09-4548 (6th Cir. Sept. 8, 2011).

On October 10, 2007, thirty-one cars of a CSX train derailed and caught fire near the town of Painesville, Ohio. As a precaution, emergency personnel removed about 1,300 people from the surrounding half-mile radius. Most of what burned in this fire was non-toxic, but nine of the cars were carrying potentially hazardous materials. The plaintiffs claimed that 2,800 tons of burning material were sent into the surrounding atmosphere, and that, as a result, the level of dioxin in their town was significantly elevated.

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