Justices’ Split Keeps Intact Union Pacific Railway Safety Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court split evenly on a railway safety case, leaving in place a lower court’s decision throwing out a train conductor’s lawsuit against Union Pacific Railroad Co. because he was injured when a locomotive was temporarily stopped in a rail yard.

The justices didn’t opine on the case in their 4-4 decision Thursday, which affirmed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s holding without setting a nationwide precedent on the scope of the Locomotive Inspection Act’s safety standards.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett sat out the case, as she was a member of the three-judge Seventh Circuit panel that rejected conductor Bradley LeDure’s claims against Union Pacific in June 2020. Barrett was nominated to the Supreme Court three months later.

The case arose from injuries LeDure’ suffered after he slipped and fell on an oil spot on an exterior walkway while he was assembling a train for departure at an Illinois rail yard.

The appeals court held that the locomotive would only be covered by the Locomotive Inspection Act’s safety standards when it’s “in use,” which would require the engine car to leave the rail yard as part of an assembled train.

The case is LeDure v. Union Pacific R.R. Co., U.S., No. 20–807, 4/28/22.