RAILROAD

Litigation

Plaintiff alleged that he was injured during the course of his employment as a locomotive engineer. The Court affirmed a very low verdict for the plaintiff and issued a lengthy opinion that rejected numerous challenges of the lower court's rulings, including dismissal of one count. The opinion rejected plaintiff's attacks on the evidence of plaintiff's failure to mitigate his damages – an important issue for all railroads in Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) litigation.

Thompson Coburn represented a railroad on 5 separate claims involving significant personal injuries and two fatalities. Plaintiffs claimed that the flashing signals were not operating at the time of the accident. The case was tried in federal court in Springfield, Illinois for 3-1/2 weeks with the plaintiffs requesting $43 million in damages in their closing arguments. The jury deliberated for 1 hour and 20 minutes before returning defense verdicts on all the claims.

Thompson Coburn represented a railroad in a cumulative trauma double knee joint replacement in St. Clair County, Illinois. The plaintiff was a conductor who claimed walking on ballast along the tracks, getting on and off moving equipment and climbing ladders on railcars to set and release handbrakes throughout his career caused him to develop degenerative conditions in his knees. The week-and-a-half-long trial resulted in the jury returning defense verdicts on all counts of plaintiff’s Complaint.

Smith v. Illinois Central R.R. Co.
This case was originally filed as a class action in St. Clair County, Illinois arising from the derailment of a train with rail cars containing chemicals such as hydrochloric acid, vinyl chloride and methanol. The Illinois Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Fifth District’s class certification ruling and remanded the case.

Labor and Employment

The railroad and former employees initially prevailed in arbitration seeking severance benefits for approximately 310 employees, claiming that their job losses were causally related to a railroad merger. Each employee claimed to six years of severance pay, totaling approximately $21.2 million plus interest. Upon appeal to the Surface Transportation Board and then to the D.C. Circuit, the arbitrator’s finding was reversed, holding that there was no evidence in the record to support the finding that the outsourcing of MIS was causally related to the merger. The Court found that the STB acted arbitrarily and capriciously in upholding the finding.

Successfully defended lawsuits alleging bad faith actions by a major railroad involving its maintenance of way workers.

Real Estate, Zoning and Land Use

Norfolk Southern Railway Company v. Ameren Corporation 
We successfully contested Ameren’s right to use a 7-mile stretch of right-of-way in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The railroad terminated Ameren’s license for use of the rail corridor and Ameren counter-claimed for condemnation of part of the utility corridor. The case settled favorably on the basis of corridor value shortly before trial and after partial summary judgment in favor of the railroad.

Former Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon alleged that the Boonville Bridge was part of the Katy Trail, pursuant to a trails agreement, and asserted a property interest in the bridge. The railroad wanted to dismantle the abandoned bridge and use it to construct a new bridge over the Osage River. We prevailed on summary judgment in Cole County and held the judgment on appeal to the Western District Court of Appeals. We also represented the railroad before the Clean Water Commission, which upheld issuance of the DNR permit.

We represented a railroad in a quiet title and slander of title action involving the railroad’s sale of excess right-of-way.

Appellate

Norfolk Southern Railway Company v. Sorrell 
Missouri’s jury instructions erroneously provided for different causation standards for an employer’s negligence and an employee’s contributory negligence under FELA.

Southern Pacific Empowered Employees Committee and four individual claimants commenced arbitration seeking severance benefits on behalf of approximately 310 former employees of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company (“SPTC”) who had lost their jobs when SPTC outsourced its MIS department. After an arbitrator ruled in favor of SPEEC on liability, our client (the successor to SPTC) appealed to the Surface Transportation Board. The STB affirmed the arbitrator and our client appealed to the D.C. Circuit where the ruling was reversed.

Injunction against blocking of railroad crossing pre-empted by the Federal Railroad Safety Authorization Act of 1994 (“FRSA”) and violates Commerce Clause of United States Constitution.

Trial court abused its discretion in denying railroad’s motion to transfer to another county for forum non conveniens.

Punitive damage award of $50 million (reduced from a jury award of $120 million) in crossing case reversed for lack of sufficient evidence of complete indifference or conscious disregard of plaintiff’s safety.

Chandler v. Illinois Central R. Co. 
Railroad owed no duty to install warning devices other than those approved by state regulatory body.