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Norfolk Southern\u2014the railroad giant whose train derailed and caused a toxic chemical fire in a small Ohio town earlier this month\u2014has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out a 2017 lawsuit filed by a cancer-afflicted former rail worker, and the Biden administration is siding with the corporation, fresh reporting from The Lever <\/em>revealed<\/a> Thursday.<\/p> If the high court, dominated by six right-wing justices, rules in favor of Norfolk Southern, it could be easier for the profitable rail carrier to block pending and future lawsuits, including from victims<\/a> of the ongoing disaster in East Palestine. Moreover, it \"could create a national precedent limiting where workers and consumers can bring cases against corporations,\" wrote two of the investigative outlet's reporters, Rebecca Burns and Julia Rock.<\/span><\/p> Former Norfolk Southern worker Robert Mallory was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016. The following year, he filed a lawsuit<\/a> alleging that his illness stemmed from workplace exposure to asbestos and other hazardous materials and that the rail carrier failed to provide safety equipment and other resources to ensure he was adequately protected on the job.<\/p> Although he had never worked in Pennsylvania, Mallory filed his lawsuit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas because his attorneys were from the state and \"he thought he would get the fairest access to justice there,\" Ashley Keller, the lawyer representing him before the Supreme Court, told The Lever<\/em>.<\/p> As Burns and Rock explained:<\/p> <\/span>The rail carrier is asking the high court \"to uphold the lower court ruling, overturn Pennsylvania's law, and restrict where corporations can be sued, upending centuries of precedent,\" the journalists noted. \"If the court rules in favor of Norfolk Southern, it could overturn plaintiff-friendly laws on the books in states including Pennsylvania, New York, and Georgia that give workers and consumers more leeway to choose where they take corporations to court\u2014an advantage national corporations already enjoy, as they often require customers and employees to agree to file litigation in specific locales whose laws make it harder to hold companies accountable.\"<\/p> Unsurprisingly, the American Association of Railroads (AAR) and other powerful corporate lobbying groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the American Trucking Association want to undercut the ability of workers and consumers to file lawsuits in the venue of their choosing. AAR, the rail industry's biggest lobby, filed a brief<\/a> last September on behalf of Norfolk Southern.<\/p> Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) also filed a brief<\/a> siding with the railroad giant. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in the coming months.<\/p> \"This is totally insane,\" The Lever<\/em>'s editor, David Sirota, wrote <\/a>on social media.<\/p> \"Wow. Just wow,\" Pennsylvania Sen. Katie Muth (D-44) tweeted in response to the report. \"Sadly, this isn\u2019t that surprising, but WTAF.\"<\/p>Pennsylvania has what's known as a \"consent-by-registration\" statute\u2014something states have had on the books since the early 19th century\u2014which stipulates that when corporations register to do business in the state, they are also consenting to be governed by that state's courts. Norfolk Southern asserts that being forced to defend the case in Pennsylvania would pose an undue burden, thereby violating its constitutional right to due process.
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