A lawsuit that has lingered since 1987 over the evacuation of a New Orleans neighborhood after a tank car caught fire in a nearby train storage terminal underscores the long-term effect of a crisis and the need for a coordinated legal and PR crisis management plan.
In one of the most convoluted legal scenarios we've come across, nine railroad-related companies are embroiled in a class-action suit levied by 8,000 plaintiffs.
It's estimated that the companies have spent millions fighting the suit. The defendants were hopeful that the case would be overturned because none of the plaintiffs suffered permanent injury. But the Supreme Court of Louisiana remanded the case on June 17 back to the Civil District Court to determine compensatory damages and resolve appeals over the $3.4 billion in awarded punitive damages.
And the saga continues with the respective PR departments left to pick up the pieces. It's expected to take years for the case to come to a close unless settlements are reached.
The case serves as a burning reminder that PR must have a crucial role in crisis management. Corporate communicators, as with this lawsuit, often are saddled with explaining the legalities surrounding cases that evolve out of crises to the media, community, shareholders and other key audiences.
The more complicated a case, the more necessary it is for PR to translate court proceedings. But communicators must provide perspective on how key audiences perceive the lawsuit and whether it's adversely impacting corporate image. Consider media tracking, constituent surveys, focus groups and in-depth interviews.
Since the fire erupted in New Orleans, communicators from the nine defendant companies have been troubleshooting media queries and community and shareholders concerns.
Some are doing a better job than others. The media coordinator at Illinois Central Railroad, a defendant in the case, said last week that she doesn't know anything about the case and apparently had not been informed by her superior who left earlier this month.
Other more educational tacks have ranged from putting up a Web site, http://www.trainrobbery.com, to releasing statements and Q&As with corporate executives each time there's a development in the case.
At the Table With The Legal Hounds
Lawyers typically keep PR executives out of the loop when a company is taken to court.
But savvy communicators are learning that progressive crisis management means setting up a blueprint for how lawyers and communicators will work together. A main argument for this involvement is that PR executives can't be asked to be information filters if they aren't privy to each phase of the case.
That's why Marty Fiorentino, VP of corporate communications and public affairs for CSX Transportation of Jacksonville, Fla., consults regularly with the company's lawyers to get the status of the case. CSX owns the interchange track where the tank cars containing the flammable gas were placed. It also has been hit with the largest portion of the punitive damages and stands to lose the most at this point.
Perhaps that's why trainrobbery.com has been a saving grace for the company.
It outlines what has transpired in the case and acts as a clearinghouse for information, albeit one that best serves CSX's position as each of the companies involved in the suit have had to independently craft their PR responses.
The companies involved include Alabama Great Southern Railroad; AMF-BRD, Inc., which designed the GATX tank car; General American Transportation Company (GATC), which owns GATX; Illinois Central Railroad Co., through which the rail shipment was routed; Mitsui & Co.; Polysar, the owner of the butadiene gas; and Phillips Petroleum Co., which sold the car to GATC.
The leak that caused the fire has been linked to an improper gasket installation by Phillips.
Phillips Director of Media Relations Rob Phillips tells PR NEWS that he can't comment on whether the company will decide to settle, but that its PR division has ongoing consultations with lawyers so it can do triage and answer queries. (CSX, Marty Fiorentino, 904/359-1446; Phillips, Rob Phillips, 918/661-9326; Harry Hardin, CSX lawyer, 504/582-8170; Dorothy Toney, Central Illinois Railroad, 312/755-7591)