The adoption of cross-border protocols by judges in Canada and the U.S. on Wednesday will allow the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway bankruptcy to move forward so that the victims of the Lac-Megantic train disaster may receive compensation as quickly as possible, The Bangor (Maine) Daily News reported yesterday. “The U.S. case and the Canadian case are being administered primarily for the victims,” said Robert Keach, a Portland lawyer and former ABI President, who was appointed Aug. 22 to serve as trustee during the bankruptcy proceeding. “Wrongful death litigants and any personal injury claims will be paid after any secured debt is paid.” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Louis Kornreich in Bangor and a Superior Court justice in Sherbrooke, Quebec, yesterday adopted a cross-border insolvency protocol; the courts will be able to talk to each other and hold joint hearings, Keach said. Judge Kornreich also granted motions that will allow the railroad to continue operating and paying employees’ salaries and benefits using a $6 million line of credit provided by Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co., based in Ohio. MMA filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Bangor and in Canada on Aug. 7, a month after one of its trains rolled driverless down a hill before derailing in the middle of the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, causing a fiery explosion that killed 47 people.
