In January 2005 a Norfolk Southern train crashed and caused a chlorine spill. The lawsuit was not filed until December 2005. It seeks back pay and lost benefits for employees who were laid off from the Avondale Mills in October.

"They've lost their livelihood," said the laid off workers' attorney. "It's not Avondale's fault they had to do the layoffs."

A Norfolk Southern crew rushed to finish its work late on Jan. 5 and didn't realign a hand-operated switch causing a train to be diverted off the main track, according to federal investigators. The train crashed into a parked train near Avondale Mills and ruptured a chlorine tanker.

A toxic cloud was released, killing nine people, injuring hundreds of others and about 5,400 people were forced to evacuate.

In October 2005, the Avondale Mills plant announced that it would be forced to layoff 350 employees because the chlorine spill heavily damaged some of its facilities. Many of the mill's employees on the late shift had to flee the area because of the chlorine.

The railroad is named as a defendant along with the three-person crew federal investigators said left the switch misaligned causing the derailment.

One employee, Michael Lanier, is named as a plaintiff in the initial filing. Lanier worked at the plant for three years and has not found a new job since being laid off, the attorney said. Twenty other plaintiffs have signed up for the lawsuit, he said.

If a judge agrees to certify the lawsuit as a class action, workers could have 90 days to sign up to join the lawsuit.