EAST PALESTINE — The four class members who appealed the $600 million class-action settlement with Norfolk Southern have until today to answer a motion by the attorneys who brokered the deal seeking an appeal bond be required.

Plaintiff’s lead co-counsel asked that a bond of $850,000 be posted by those appealing the settlement — Zsuzsa Troyan, Tamara Freeze, Sharon Lynch and Carly Tunno — through a motion filed Nov. 8.

Judge Benita Pearson, who gave final approval on the settlement in September, issued an order Thursday in Younstown’s U.S. District Court, setting today’s deadline at 4 p.m.

The request for an appeal bond was filed under to Rule 7 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure and was based on the estimation that the appeal process would lead to $825,000 in additional billable expense by Kroll Settlement Administration — the firm processing the 55,000 claims filed to receive a settlement award — as well as an extra $25,000 in expenses for class counsel. Those fees were listed as docket and filing fees and printing and copying costs. Kroll already stands to pocket up to $20 million for processing the claims while plaintiff attorney’s were paid $180 million in legal fees.

A motion requiring Rev. Joseph Sheely — the first class member to file a notice to appeal — to post an appeal bond of the same amount remains pending. Sheely answered that motion on Oct. 16. In his answer, Sheely argued he could not afford to post such a bond — one of many factors a court considers when determining whether to impose a bond. An appellant’s financial ability to post a bond is heavily weighed. An appellant must prove that the bond would constitute a barrier to his or her right to an appeal.

Sheely asked Pearson for consideration of his circumstances and for the court to recognize the impact of health issues and his inability to afford to post a bond.

“Please take into consideration that I am suffering from a plethora of physical impairments caused by the exposure to toxic chemical contamination and as such I cannot continue this process with my health conditions and a bond requirement,” Sheely’s response said.

Sheely also said the bond requirement “added insult to injury.”

Pearson is yet to rule on whether Sheely will be ordered to post the nearly $1 million bond.

In Thursday’s order, in which Pearson set the response deadline for Troyan, Freeze, Lynch and Tunno, Pearson said that a motion to combine the appeals into one hearing was granted by the County of Appeals.

“The Sixth Circuit granted the motion to consolidate insofar as these two independently briefed appeals will be submitted to the same panel for consideration on the same date,” Pearson wrote.

The ruling means both appeals — the one by Sheely and the one by other four class members — will be heard at the same time by Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and its panel of three judges assigned to the case from a pool of 16 at a date yet to be determined. The opposition of Troyan, Freeze, Lynch and Tunno to the final settlement was already considered one appeal as they were filed in one motion instead of separately.

The other appeal pending in the case was filed by a class counsel T. Michael Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. That appeal takes exception with the legal fees distribution only and not been consolidated.

selverd@mojonews.com