LISBON — Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam set deadlines next month for parties in one of the lawsuits against Norfolk Southern over the 2023 East Palestine train derailment to file motions for or against consolidating the case with a similar case filed earlier in 2025.

Washam was assigned to the lawsuit filed in December by Richard Tsai and 30-plus other plaintiffs in Common Pleas Court against the railroad company and 30-plus other defendants. He’s been conducting private reviews of the court documents.

In a recent judgment entry, he noted that the case in front of him appears to include some of the same party defendants and same attorneys, similar causes of action and common questions of law as the other case.

With the two cases similar, he set a date of March 6 for the filing of a motion seeking to consolidate this case with the earlier case and also a deadline of March 20 to file a response in opposition of consolidating the two cases.

Both Washam and fellow Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton had recused themselves from hearing the other case, which had been transferred from Franklin County and originally included a defendant list with East Palestine governmental entities, a Columbiana governmental entity and Columbiana County governmental entities. All the local governmental defendants were dismissed from the case.

The lawsuit claiming wrongful death and negligence included more than 800 parties and was transferred from Franklin County to Columbiana County in October. Retired Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard J. McMonagle was assigned by the Ohio Supreme Court to act as visiting judge for the lawsuit. Since then, he has also been conducting private reviews of the information.

Claims outlined in the complaint include negligence, nuisance, strict liability, trespass, punitive damages, loss of consortium, wrongful death, survivorship, civil conspiracy and Medicaid subrogation. The wrongful death claim alleges that Margie Mae Lewis, Margo Zuch, Randy Swogger, John R. Moore, Viola Noel, Edward Zins and Carlyn Tigelman all died from the aftermath of the derailment.

The case before Washam seeks damages for a list of claims that includes negligence, nuisance, strict liability, product liability, trespass, punitive damages, loss of consortium, wrongful death, survivorship and business interruption. The wrongful death claim stems from Courtney Fish, of East Palestine, who allegedly died from the aftermath of the derailment.