RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

June 2004

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District Court Holds that Federal Common Law Does Not Apply to Claim by Railroad Operator.
Norfolk Southern Railway Company v. Energy Development Corporation, ___F.Supp.2d___

Concluding that no specific federal interest would be threatened by application of state nuisance law, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia has refused to apply federal common law to a nuisance claim between a railroad and adjoining landowners. Noting that the instances requiring resort to federal common law are “few and restricted” the court held that simply providing uniformity to an area that is regulated by the federal government, even extensively, is not a sufficient basis for invoking federal common law.