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Mark Griffioen, et al. v. Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railways Company, et al.

Paid petition · Supreme Court of Iowa, No. 16-1462 · judgment June 22, 2018

Certiorari denied · March 18, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

The Petitioners are property owners in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who asserted a number of Iowa statutory and common law claims against Respondent railroad companies. The railroad companies parked laden rail cars on low level bridges spanning the Cedar River in advance of a flood, effectively damming up the river and diverting flood waters into downtown Cedar Rapids and the surrounding areas. The Iowa Supreme Court, in a four to three ruling, held that the Petitioners’ state law claims were preempted by the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act (“ICCTA”), in spite of the fact that the ICCTA provided no alternative remedies for the property owners. The following question is presented: Whether the Iowa Supreme Court erred in holding that state laws of general application addressing primarily public safety issues and with only an incidental impact on rail transportation are preempted by the ICCTA, especially given the ICCTA’s failure to supply any alternative remedy.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Russell G. Petti
Law Offices of Russell G. Petti

For respondent
J. Scott Ballenger

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Proceedings

  1. Mar 18 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Feb 20 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/15/2019.
  3. Feb 18 2019
    Reply of petitioners Mark Griffioen, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  4. Feb 04 2019
    Brief of respondents Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway Co. and Alliant EnergyCorporation in opposition filed.
  5. Feb 04 2019
    Brief of respondents Union Pacific Railroad Company and Union Pacific Corporation in opposition filed.
  6. Dec 20 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 4, 2019, for all respondents.
  7. Dec 19 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 3, 2019 to February 4, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  8. Dec 04 2018
    Response Requested. (Due January 3, 2019)
  9. Nov 28 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/4/2019.
  10. Nov 13 2018
    Waiver of right of respondent Alliant Energy Corporation to respond filed.
  11. Nov 06 2018
    Waiver of right of respondents Union Pacific Railroad Company and Union Pacific Corporation to respond filed.
  12. Oct 15 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 19, 2018)