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Residents are still waiting to receive most of the money from the settlement because of pending appeals, although some payments have started to go out.

Norfolk Southern wants two other companies to help pay for the $600 million class-action settlement it agreed to over its disastrous 2023 train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and the toxic chemicals that were released and burned.

Class-action attorneys who negotiated with Norfolk Southern have said the appeal will add significant administrative costs for the firm disbursing person injury payments to people who lived or worked within 20 miles of the derailment site.

Lawyers haven't provided any breakdown of how many of the roughly 55,000 claims they received are for injuries and how many are for property damage, nor have they said how much each person will receive. Only 370 households and 47 businesses opted out of the deal.

Many residents of East Palestine, Ohio, expressed outrage online over the weekend about the appeal because it will delay the payments they had been counting on to help them recover from the toxic train crash that disrupted their lives when it spewed hazardous chemicals into their community. Some people had planned to use the money to relocate.

Norfolk Southern said Thursday that its new CEO's salary will jump to $1 million now that Mark George has been promoted from chief financial officer, and he will be eligible for a $2.25 million bonus and significant stock awards for performance.

The lawyers who negotiated the deal with Norfolk Southern on behalf of everyone affected by the disastrous February 2023 derailment said only 370 households and 47 businesses in the 20-mile (32-kilometer) radius around the derailment opted out of the property damage payments.

A spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based railroad that is one of North America's six largest declined to offer any additional details about the nature of the allegations against Alan Shaw, who was promoted to the top job in the spring of 2022 after decades at Norfolk Southern.

It's not clear whether the judge will rule on their motion before Thursday's deadline for people who live within 20 miles (32 kilometers) of the derailment to file a claim.

The creeks around East Palestine, Ohio, were so badly contaminated by last year's disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment that some workers became sick during the cleanup.