Client: Dover and Delaware River RR
Court: Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Warren County
**Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances**
Matter Caption: DV & KY, Gold Star Trucking Corp. v. Norfolk Southern Corp. d/b/a Norfolk Southern; Norfolk Southern Railway Co. d/b/a Norfolk Southern and Dover Delaware River Railroad, LLC
In August 2024, private property owner plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern (“NS”), a Class 1 railroad, seeking to compel it to repair an overhead bridge for passenger motor vehicles that crosses over its railway tracks located in Warren County.
In response, NS filed a Third-Party Complaint against our client, Dover and Delaware River Railroad, LLC (the “Client/Shortline RR), seeking contractual indemnification since the Client/Shortline RR operated rail service along the railway under a written lease. The bridge in question was constructed in 1913 by a now-defunct railroad company.
Our firm successfully negotiated a Consent Order that dismissed the Third-Party Complaint, allowing the Client/Shortline RR to become a defendant in the primary lawsuit. This change saved the Client/Shortline RR from the cost and expense to defend against the Third-Party Complaint and permitted it to focus on defending against the plaintiffs’ Complaint. NS and the Client/Shortline RR agreed that the Client/Shortline RR would take the lead in this defense.
Regarding the Complaint, our firm successfully negotiated a Case Management Order to stay discovery and enable both the Client/Shortline RR and NS to file Motions for Summary Judgment based on three legal defenses: (1) standing, (2) subject matter jurisdiction, and (3) exhaustion of administrative remedies.
On March 21, 2025, after reviewing the briefs and hearing oral arguments, the Chancery Court issued a 24-page unpublished decision granting the Motions for Summary Judgment from both NS and the Client/Shortline RR. The Court found the following: (1) Plaintiffs lacked standing under N.J.S.A. 48:12-49 because there is no private cause of action under this statute; (2) the Superior Court of New Jersey lacks jurisdiction to determine whether Conrail (which is no longer in business) ever owned the bridge (the plaintiffs allege that the bridge was owned by Conrail and subsequently transferred to NS) since federal law gives exclusive jurisdiction to the Federal District Court; and (3) Plaintiffs failed to exhaust their administrative remedies under the Railroad Overhead Bridge Act of 1988, N.J.S.A. 27:5G-5 (the “Abandoned Bridge Act”), which expressly assigns exclusive investigation authority to the Commissioner of NJDOT regarding abandoned bridges over railroads.
Importantly, the plaintiffs failed to exercise their right to petition the Commissioner for an investigation and hearing, which would have allowed them to present evidence. They also did not request that the owner of the private road adjacent to the bridge assume jurisdiction and perform the necessary repairs.
