Shippers hammer railroads with lawsuits over fuel surcharges

Oct 03, 2019 at 11:31 AM CST
U.S. Class I railroads BNSF (NYSE: BRK), Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP), CSX (NYSE: CSX) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) got slammed with lawsuits this week from shippers of various industries. The lawsuits allege that between 2003 and 2008, the railroads engaged in price fixing by assessing fuel surcharges and saying they were part of a fuel cost recovery program, thus violating the Sherman Act. More than two dozen lawsuits may have been filed this week on the issue, according to research conducted via PACER, an online database of court filings. Plaintiffs range from power companies such as Ameren Missouri, Duke Energy Carolinas and Dominion Energy, to chemicals and energy suppliers such as Eastman Chemical and Phillips 66, to automakers such as KIA and Hyundai.

Oct 03, 2019 at 11:31 AM CST

U.S. Class I railroads BNSF (NYSE: BRK), Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP), CSX (NYSE: CSX) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) got slammed with lawsuits this week from shippers of various industries. The lawsuits allege that between 2003 and 2008, the railroads engaged in price fixing by assessing fuel surcharges and saying they were part of a fuel cost recovery program, thus violating the Sherman Act. More than two dozen lawsuits may have been filed this week on the issue, according to research conducted via PACER, an online database of court filings. Plaintiffs range from power companies such as Ameren Missouri, Duke Energy Carolinas and Dominion Energy, to chemicals and energy suppliers such as Eastman Chemical and Phillips 66, to automakers such as KIA and Hyundai.