Railroads, Shippers Spar Over Scope of Fuel Price-Fixing MDL

The country’s top freight railroads are fighting with some of the largest companies bringing fuel price-fixing claims against them in D.C. federal court over the proper scope of the multidistrict case after the defeat of a parallel class action.

The antitrust lawsuits, consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, target CSX Transportation Inc., Norfolk Southern Railway Co., Union Pacific Railroad Co., and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary BNSF Railway Co.

The lawsuits accuse the railroads of conspiring to inflate fuel surcharges beginning in 2003, after each tried and failed to act on its own. ...