"While the parties desire to expeditiously bring this litigation to its conclusion, the situation before the parties is an exceptional one that justifies — if not necessitates — a short stay in this case," the companies state in their "joint motion to stay case due to the coronavirus."
The parties said they have 12 additional depositions that need to be conducted across the country including in the cities of Atlanta, Jacksonville, Florida, Corpus Christi, Texas, and Norfolk, Virginia. These depositions are scheduled to begin Wednesday and continue through the close of fact discovery on March 30, 2020.
But the parties told the court that as a result of the World Health Organization classifying COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11, "certain of the parties and their counsels' law firms have imposed travel restrictions on their employees and visitation bans as to non-employees until further notice."
The legal dispute between the giant railroad companies dates to October 2018, when CSX sued Norfolk Southern, claiming it uses its majority stake in the Belt Line — the co-owned switching railroad — to price out competitors. CSX claims Norfolk Southern has created "monopolistic control" over traffic in and out of Virginia's largest international shipping terminal, Norfolk International Terminals.
Norfolk Southern moved to dismiss the antitrust suit over its alleged dominant control of the Belt Line in February, but CSX argued that Norfolk Southern failed to raise new claims.
CSX said Norfolk Southern instead echoed issues and claims over jurisdiction that its co-defendant Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad Co. already raised during the dismissal stage in November 2018, which the court later rejected.
The in-fighting between the two rail companies is playing out against the backdrop of an expanding set of lawsuits lodged against Norfolk Southern, CSX and two other railroads — Union Pacific Railroad Co. and BNSF Railway Co. — over purportedly exorbitant fuel surcharges.
The mounting complaints, which claim those four major U.S. railways fleeced freight companies out of millions with a years-long fuel surcharge conspiracy, began hitting federal dockets in the wake of last year's D.C. Circuit decision ending thousands of shippers' class certification effort in long-running multidistrict litigation over the same claims.
But CSX and Norfolk Southern were in agreement this week, as they asked the judge to stay the case, explaining that travel is ill-advised as states across the country shutter schools, close courts and impose quarantines.
While the court already continued a settlement conference in the case scheduled for next week, the parties requested a 30-day stay of the case "to give the parties time to evaluate the appropriate manner to proceed in light of the coronavirus."
The parties told the court there exists good cause to stay the case for 30 days and vacate all existing deadlines, including the trial, pending reschedule.
"This request is submitted in good faith and is not intended to cause unnecessary burden or needless expense," the parties wrote in their joint motion.
But the parties also acknowledged it is ultimately up to the court's discretion.
"The court has broad authority to control its docket," the parties wrote.
Representatives for the parties did not immediately reply to requests for comment Wednesday.
Norfolk Southern is represented by Alan D. Wingfield, Michael E. Lacy, John C. Lynch and Kathleen M. Knudsen of Troutman Sanders LLP.
The Belt Line is represented by James L. Chapman IV, W. Ryan Snow, Darius K. Davenport and David C. Hartnett of Crenshaw Ware & Martin PLC.
CSX is represented by Robert W. McFarland, Benjamin L. Hatch, Jeanne E. Noonan and Ashley P. Peterson of McGuireWoods LLP.
The case is CSX Transportation Inc. v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company et al., case number 2:18-cv-00530, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
--Additional reporting by Anne Cullen and Khorri Atkinson. Editing by Amy Rowe.
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