LISBON — The owners of the still-closed State Line Tavern on East Taggart Street in East Palestine recently filed a $5 million-plus lawsuit against Norfolk Southern for damages related to the Feb. 3, 2023, train crash and chemical spill.

Kelly Likovich, 66, and her husband Terry Berresford, 75, both of New Galilee, Pa., which is about 7.5 miles from the crash site, filed the money complaint in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, claiming damages to their business and a separate rental property, lost future income and lost property value, along with emotional trauma and medical issues.

Named as defendants were Norfolk Southern Railway Company of Upper Arlington and Norfolk Southern Corporation of Atlanta.

The complaint described the events of Feb. 3, 2023, blaming the defendants for causing a major train derailment that resulted in a noxious, poisonous and improper release of vinyl chloride into the area and approximately within 300 yards of the State Line Tavern, a business the couple had operated for 33 years at 51962 E. Taggart St., featuring food, beverage and clothing for sale. They also owned a rental property at 51976 E. Taggart St., which they used for monthly income.

Likovich and Berresford were forced to evacuate and close down the tavern and lost their rental income, then the defendants took over their business property, parking trucks there and shutting down the road for an extended period.

The business isn’t readily accessible and remains closed. The rental property also remains empty and “unrentable until the area is safe from harmful chemicals spilled into the atmosphere by the defendants.”

According to the complaint, Norfolk Southern was supposed to clean and restore the tavern and the rental property, but no cleanup has happened and is expected to cost the couple thousands of dollars.

The couple lost their combined sources of income with the business still closed and the rental property still vacant.

The couple “further lost their goodwill and customer base in their business that took them many, many years to build, as well as their rental income,” the document states.

Besides talking about the damage to their real estate value and the funding of their retirement, the complaint talked about the physical and emotional damage to their health from anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, nervousness, sleeplessness and disabling trauma.

For the medical bills and emotional trauma, their attorney, Lynn Sfara Bruno, requested damages in excess of $2 million. For the lost property value and lost income from the tavern and the rental property, damages in excess of $3 million were requested, bringing to total to more than $5 million.

The case has been assigned to Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam.