7 March 2006
Suit Stemming from N.D. Derailment Dismissed
Bismark North Dakota - A federal judge on Monday dismissed a class action lawsuit against
Canadian Pacific Railway over a 2002 derailment and deadly chemical spill near the town of Minot.
The plaintiffs had claimed negligence and emotional distress and sought an unspecified amount of damages after the wreck sent a cloud of
toxic anhydrous ammonia over northern North Dakota town. One man was killed trying to escape the flames and hundreds sought treatment
for burns or breathing problems.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland said the Federal Railroad Safety Act pre-empts state law, making the
railroad immune from legal action.
He said he recognized that the federal legislation "closes every available door and remedy for injured parties.
"As a result, the judicial system is left with a law that is inherently unfair to innocent bystanders and property owners who may
be injured by the negligent actions of railroad companies," he wrote.
The judge left open the possibility that the case could be refiled in Minnesota, the railroad's U.S. headquarters. Hovland said
Minnesota courts have allowed claims against railroad companies despite the federal law.
Mike Miller, a Fargo attorney who is representing hundreds of plaintiffs, said he would have to decide how to proceed in both states.
"(The Federal Railroad Safety Act) certainly was not meant to let the railroads kill or seriously injure people with
immunity," Miller said.
In the railroad's argument to toss out the class-action lawsuit, lawyers cited an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling
in a case involving a 2000 BNSF Railway derailment and chemical spill in Scottsbluff, Neb.
In the Nebraska case, appeals judges ruled that the violation of a federal regulation or law "is generally not recognized as
negligence" under Nebraska law.
"Judge Hovland correctly interpreted the Federal Railroad Safety Act," said Tim Thornton, an attorney for the railroad.
In the first cases to go to trial, jurors in Minneapolis last month ruled the railroad must pay four people nearly $1.86 million for
injuries they suffered as a result of the Minot wreck. The railroad had appealed that decision.
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