How these corporate disasters often run. The accident happens. There is, depending on the visibility of evidence, an attempt to minimize the actual impact. People being told to return home after 24 hours might be seen as such.
Once the cat is out of the bag, promises are made. "We will make you whole again", or some such. There is an attempt to show how much the corporation responsible is doing. A PR damage control thing is set forth.
Then it goes to court, where it might get a hi viz major settlement levied against the corporation.
Then the appeals start. Drags on for years, or even decades. People harmed are often dead before any settlement money gets paid.
In the end, the corporation gets the initial settlement whittled down, and to be paid in inflated dollars, while people move on with their lives, most largely forgetting what happened.
In the environmental disaster in my neck of the woods, the Exxon Valdez grounding there were elements of these stages, and that is why I am familiar. A few examples.
Minimizing impact: Right after the grounding a reporter asked a Exxon representative how much oil spilled and his shotgun back of the napkin estimate was maybe 11 million gallons. A fraction of what was in the hold. That estimate stuck like it was cast in cement, to this day it is what is claimed as what actually spilled. In truth it was a lot more according to other experts.
Promises: Exxon high ups says in a speech delivered to the legislature I believe. "We will make you whole"
Court lawsuit: An Anchorage court awards victims and the state $287 million in damages and 5 billion in punitive.
Appeals court: 17 years after the wreck, Exxon gets the punitive damages cut in half. At that time I believe little was actually paid out.
Exxon appeals again, to the Supreme Court where the case is thrown out. Eventually the punitive damages were cut to around 1/10th the original settlement. Many towns people, Natives, fishermen, seafood industry, tourism ended up with very little once the pie was divided. Some people passed on before seeing any money etc. Exxon paid out the last of the money it owed in 2009, 20 years later.
So since that disaster was largely environmental and economic it is a bit different than this, so how will this train wreck go down? Very difficult to prove cancer 10 years later traced back, even if there is a sharp rise in cancer rates after a thing happens. That correlation doesn't prove causality thing is a pretty big steel wall in court and not much gets past it. Coincidence theorists win again?
