CORINTH, Miss. — A lawsuit filed by Alcorn County, Miss., against four railroad companies in an attempt to get them to make repairs on five bridges in District 2 is “buried in quagmire,” said Bob Krohn of Corinth, who along with a prominent Washington, D.C., law firm, is representing the county.
District 2 Supervisor Danny Crotts has been trying to get the railroads’ bridges repaired for several years, according to a report in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. The suit names Norfolk Southern, Illinois Central, Redmont and Mississippi Railroad Authority as the defendants.
A mountain of legal briefs has been filed in this case, Krohn said. “All of it is now on the desk of a federal judge,” he said. “If we are successful, we will be in court and then will have to prepare for trial. Of course, we think we have a good position or we wouldn’t be in court.
The object of the lawsuit is to ultimately compel the railroads to repair the bridges at an estimated cost of $2 million, said board attorney Wendell Trapp.
Under a new federal law, the Surface Transportation Board has oversight over the economic issues of rail transportation, Krohn said. The safety issue was carved out of the of federal law which fell under the old Interstate Transportation Commission, he said.
“We are saying we have a safety issue in District 2 in Alcorn County and since it isn’t covered by federal law, we want state law to apply,” Krohn said. “We are plowing new ground.”
“I want to let the people know that we are still working on this,” Crotts said. “We are doing everything we can for their safety.”