WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to continue its antitrust lawsuit against Norfolk Southern.
CSX sued Norfolk Southern in October 2018, claiming its competitor conspired with Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad Co. to set an excessive “switch rate” on dock access to the Port of Virginia. CSX said the switch rate of $210 per train car cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars since its implementation back in 2009.
In August, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia ruled CSX’s allegations were untimely because they were not within the four-year window allowed for filing U.S. antitrust law claims [see “CSX turned down in appeal …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 30, 2024].
According to a petition filed by CSX in November and made public on Monday, CSX asked the Supreme Court to “grant review and set aside the Fourth Circuit Court’s decision.” CSX argued that because its business has undergone continual harm by the fees every day, it creates a “new harm” that renews the statute of limitations.
“Although the Court has not yet had occasion to address the doctrine in the precise factual circumstances presented by this case, it has stated the principle that controls: Injury caused by an antitrust violation beginning outside the limitations period but causing new harm in that period restarts the statute of limitations,” the CSX petition states.
It is unclear when the Supreme Court may rule on the review request.
“CSX remains focused on its efforts to gain competitive access at NIT [Norfolk International Terminals], the Virginia Port Authority’s largest marine terminal, so that we can best serve our customers,” said CSX spokesperson Sheriee Bowman in an emailed statement.
FreightWaves has reached out to Norfolk Southern for comment.
— This article originally appeared at FreightWaves.com.
Third paragraph is missing the actual 4th Circuit ruling after the word “were”.
As to the substance of this, if only CSX hadn’t given up their own intermodal terminal in Newport News…..
Boys, boys, why can’t we just play nice…
In Steel City this action by CSX would be referred to as “Sar Grapes”.
Send lawyers, guns and money. CS&X made a bad deal splitting NPBL. So they want the Courts to fix it for them.
Eventually, Craney Island Dredged Material Storage on the west side of the harbor will be re-developed into a container terminal. Between that and VIG, CSX would have primary access to over half the container capacity in Norfolk and they’ll forget all about this (hopefully)
How does a switching charge that would normally be absorbed by either line haul carrier as part of the line haul rate have an anti competitive effect?
“The NPBL is owned fifty-seven percent by Norfolk Southern Railway and forty-three percent by CSX Transportation.” – Wikipedia
It sounds like CSX done themselves dirty.