The railroad sought hundreds of millions in damages.
CSX announced it is weighing its options after a U.S. appeals court declined to revive its lawsuit against eastern rival Norfolk Southern regarding access to a crucial Virginia container port, resulting in substantial damages totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the allegations fell outside the four-year limit for filing claims under U.S. antitrust law.
In a ruling from 2023, a lower court found against CSX, and the recent decision from the Richmond court upheld that judgment in the case involving Norfolk International Terminals at the Port of Virginia. CSX stated in an email, “We are evaluating all options as we remain dedicated to securing competitive access at NIT, the largest marine terminal operated by the Virginia Port Authority, to better serve our customers.”
Norfolk Southern operates on-dock services on its own tracks at NIT, which has an annual capacity of 3.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units. In 2018, CSX filed a lawsuit claiming that Norfolk Southern had collaborated with the Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad Co. to impose a high “switch rate” for on-dock access, according to Reuters.
The appeals court ruled that the claims dated back to 2009 and deemed CSX’s subsequent lawsuit against Norfolk Southern and Norfolk & Portsmouth as “untimely.” However, CSX argued that it had suffered “accumulating harm” from the daily switch rate over the years, which it believed should extend the statute of limitations. Additionally, CSX contended that the lower court’s ruling effectively created an “immunity shield” against future lawsuits.
The appeals court opined that the allegedly unlawful switch rate, which had been in effect for years, caused no “new harm causing new injury” to CSX within the allowable timeframe. An NS representative expressed satisfaction with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, stating, “We are pleased with the decision and remain hopeful that this unnecessary litigation has now come to a close.”
The case is identified as CSX Transportation v. Norfolk Southern Railway et al, in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 23-1537.
