Washington — The U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) ruled in favor of Agrium Inc. Sept. 11, denying a motion by Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) to dismiss the complaint. Agrium said the matter was before the STB’s jurisdiction because a portion of the CPR rail system is within the U.S. Agrium filed the complaint in May, alleging that CPR added defense, indemnity, and liability provisions to its tariffs for discharges of toxic inhalation hazards (TIH). Agrium argued it would have to defend and fully indemnify CPR for liability regardless of fault, except in the case of CPR’s “negligence and willful misconduct,” which Agrium said was too ill-defined. STB ordered discovery to proceed immediately, with completion by Dec. 14, 2015. Further proceedings before STB will occur Feb. 12-May 12, 2016. Ammonia is a sore spot for CPR. The company was the railroad in a landmark incident in the fertilizer industry when one of its trains derailed in Minot, N.D., in 2002. One person was killed and hundreds were sent to the hospital when an ammonia tank car ruptured. While CPR settled a class action lawsuit for $7 million in 2007 (GM Oct. 15, 2007), at that time a CPR spokesman said the company settled more than 1,000 individual lawsuits, with 300 remaining.
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