Some of the world’s biggest oil companies are chipping in to repay victims of a deadly train derailment, but unless a bankruptcy judge says otherwise, the amounts they’re paying will remain secret, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Insurers, oil companies and others will together pay several hundred million dollars to compensate those affected by the 2013 derailment of a crude oil-carrying train in Canada. After the crash, the train operator filed for bankruptcy and began pursuing litigation in an effort to compensate those who were injured, lost their lives or had their businesses damaged when the runaway train crashed into a small Quebec town and exploded. The terms of the settlement aim to shield the specific dollar amount that companies like Royal Dutch Shell PLC , Marathon Oil Corp., ConocoPhillips and Irving Oil Ltd. would each pitch in to what has grown to become a $345 million fund. A Justice Department watchdog urged a bankruptcy judge to expose the dollar amounts, arguing that efforts to keep them secret “violate the strong public policy in favor of public access to documents filed with the bankruptcy court.” The watchdog said that other courts have rejected the argument that making the figures public will hurt the companies’ chances in future litigation. The bankruptcy judge will consider making other companies’ contributions public at a June 23 hearing.
