Quebec government suing CP Rail for damages in Lac-Mgantic disaster

The Quebec government is suing Canadian Pacific Railway (CP)for $409 million in damagesas a result of the 2013 tragedy at Lac-Mgantic.

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The lawsuit, filed on Friday at Quebec Superior Court, claims CP failed to take the necessary steps to prevent possible damage fromthe crude oil carried in the cars in case of derailment. It also accuses CP of negligencewhich aggravated the scale of the tragedy.

Forty-seven people died in Lac-Mgantic after a convoy of 72 tanker cars left unattended rolled down a slope and derailed in the town's centre, causing a series of explosions and fires and leading towidespread devastation.

The train was operated by the defunct Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MM&A), but the government claims CP was legally responsible for the crude oil that was being transported from North Dakota to refineries in the east.

The lawsuit contendsCP was negligent in entrusting the volatile compounds to MM&A, which, the government claims, had a poor safety record.

CP is the only company named in a class action suit launched by Lac-Mgantic victims which hadrefused to contribute to a compensation fund reached through an out-of-court settlement a fund now worth about $452 million.

Last Oct. 13, Superior Court Justice Gatan Dumas signed off on the final agreement regarding the terms of the fund, after all sides agreed to change some of the language in the terms in order to secure CP'ssupport for the deal.

The new terms of the fund gavecertain legal assurance to CP in the event that it wastaken to court over its responsibility in the derailment.