DATE: Tuesday, April 29, 1997               TAG: 9704290287

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG BUSINESS NEWS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   33 lines

NORFOLK SOUTHERN LOSES IMMUNITY BID

Norfolk Southern Corp. failed in a Supreme Court bid to win broad immunity from lawsuits about collisions at rail crossings equipped with federally approved warning devices.

The high court Monday refused to consider Norfolk Southern's appeal of a lower-court ruling, which said the railroad must stand trial in Alabama lawsuits about two car-train accidents that killed one person and left another paralyzed.

The Virginia-based railroad had asked the high court to clear up questions about how broadly lower courts should interpret a 1993 Supreme Court decision, which gave railroads some protection from lawsuits about car-train collisions at crossings where the federal government had financed and approved the warning devices.

The 1993 high court decision focused on lawsuits claiming that rail crossings weren't equipped with the proper warning signals.

In the latest dispute, Norfolk Southern argued that the same logic should apply to prohibit lawsuits that seek damages for other reasons.

The Alabama Supreme Court said that, even if claims about the type of warning system are prohibited, federal financing for rail crossings doesn't shield a railroad from lawsuits seeking damages under some other state laws. The Alabama high court said victims of car-train collisions could sue Norfolk Southern under Alabama laws that require companies to warn the public about known hazards, or fault the railroad for failure to properly maintain a crossing.

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