EAST PALESTINE — Nearly two months after replacing Kroll as the court-appointed settlement administrator responsible for determining and distributing individual amounts of last year’s $600M settlement between Norfolk Southern and residents impacted by the rail disaster, Epiq still has not announced when personal injury payments will resume.

In July, the firm reported it was “hopeful” those payments, open to individuals who lived and worked within 10 miles of the derailment, would begin again “by early fall”.

The official data transfer from Kroll to Epiq was completed on June 30 and that data was expected to be uploaded into Epiq’s system by mid-July.

An audit of Kroll, which was ordered by federal Judge Benita Person when she removed Kroll from the case, is expected to take 60 days.

According to eastpalestinetrainsettlement.com — the website set up to share information and updates related to the settlement — the original email can now be used to answer settlement questions. That email is info@EastPalestineTrainSettlement.com.

“Epiq, as substitute settlement administrator, is working closely with class counsel to process any submitted defect responses, respond to inquiries, and reissue payments,” the latest update on the website said. “Epiq is working as quickly as possible to handle these items, but this transition will take time and we ask that everyone be patient so that the transition from Kroll to Epiq can be completed and the claims process can restart as quickly and smoothly as possible.”

Pearson at the request of class co-counsel terminated Kroll as settlement administrator after the New York-based firm reportedly overpaid some personal injury claims.

Direct payments — claims for property damage up to $70,000 for households within 20 miles or less of the derailment — remain on hold indefinitely as the appeal by five class members plays out in Cincinnati’s Sixth Circuit Court.