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Torts Keyed to Franklin
Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co. v. American Cyanamid Co.
Citation:
916 F.2d 1174 (7th Cir. 1990)
ProfessorMelissa A. Hale
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
Cyanamid loaded 20,000 gallons of chemicals into a railroad tank car in Louisiana. A train brought the tank car to a railroad yard owned by Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad so that the tank car could be switched onto another railroad line to take it east to New Jersey.
Several hours after the tank car arrived, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad employees noticed fluid gushing from the bottom of the tank car. The employees were able to close the leak after about two hours, but they evacuated the nearby homes for a few hours because the chemical was highly flammable and toxic.
The Illinois Department of Environmental Protection charged Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad with $981,022.75 in fines for contamination of soil and water resulting from the spill. Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad sued American Cyanamid Co. to recover the cost of the fine.
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