District Court Absolves Importer of Liability for 2005 Train Derailment
The Northern Illinois U.S. District Court on Dec. 30 found an importer was not liable for a 2005 train derailment caused when the contents of its shipment fell through the floor of a moving train car. Although Plano Molding could potentially be held liable for the disaster, evidence from expert witnesses showed that a faulty shipping container, and not the way that the container was packed, caused the disaster, the court said.
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Two steel molds weighing 25,000 pounds were on a Union Pacific train traveling through Oklahoma at about 70 miles per hour when they broke through the bottom of the shipping container and then the train car, derailing the train and causing $4 million of damage to Union Pacific and K-Line customers. They had been shipped from China by Plano Molding for use in a factory that makes plastic storage boxes. Plano had freight forwarder World Commerce Services coordinate the molds’ transportation.
The bill of lading issued by World had a clause stipulating that the “merchant” guarantees “that the stowage and seals of the containers are safe and proper and suitable for handling and carriage,” and holding that “merchant” liable for any losses caused by a breach of that duty. The bill of lading defined “merchant” as the consignee. It identified Plano as the consignee.
Plano contracted with K-Line to ship the molds from China. The molds were loaded onto a K-Line shipping container, and after crossing the Pacific were loaded onto the ill-fated Union Pacific train. They broke through the bottom of the train car and caused the derailment on April 21, 2005. Nine other lawsuits related to the derailment have settled, leaving this one as the only remaining case.
After finding Plano could be held liable because it hired World to coordinate shipping, and was therefore subject to World’s bill of lading, the district court held a three-day trial in October to determine whether Plano was actually liable. The trial “was a classic ‘battle of the experts,’” according to the court. K-Line and Union Pacific put an expert on the stand that argued the crates holding the molds were loaded into the container improperly. The weight of the crates was too concentrated, and crates weren’t lashed down, which caused them to bounce. But Plano put three witnesses on the stand that argued the container failed not because of any problems with how they were loaded, but instead because the container itself was defective. The welds holding the cross-members to the side of the container were too weak to hold the weight that they normally could.
After weighing the testimony, Northern Illinois District Judge Harry Leinenweber ruled in favor of Plano. Arguments from K-Line and Union Pacific’s expert that the loading was faulty were only speculation, he said, and neither side called any witnesses that were actually involved in the loading. On the other hand, real evidence existed that the container was defective. Good welds should never break, and if any part should fail it should be the metal surrounding the weld, the court said. The shipping container showed signs that it suffered from poor welds. On the cross members that broke and allowed the molds to fall through, the area that failed was the weld.
Finding the derailment wasn’t caused by how the container was loaded, the district court said Plano couldn’t be held liable under the clause in the bill of lading holding the merchant liable for losses caused by bad storage and seals. “Put simply, in the battle of the experts, the Court found Plano’s experts, their theory of failure, and the evidence upon which they relied more convincing and credible than that of Plaintiffs’ expert,” said the court.
A lawyer for K-Line declined to comment on whether the company plans to appeal.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the ruling.
(Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. v. Plano Molding Co., Northern Illinois District No. 07-5675, dated 12/30/13)