Transportation: Railroad Law

Team Skills & Experience Brief

Selected as 2013 Transport Law Firm of the Year in South Carolina by Corporate INTL Magazine.
GWB’s Railroad Team has well over 50 years of combined experience representing national railroads and short line railroads.
The team served as trial and appellate counsel in the South Carolina Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Whaley v. CSX Transportation, Inc.
The team provides statewide, regional, and national representation to Class 1 railroads, including Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation.
The team is available 24/7 and provides clients an Emergency Response Contact Sheet listing home, cell and direct dial telephone numbers.
In 2005, GWB’s Railroad Team served as lead counsel in the emergency response and post-accident investigation and claims handling of the largest non-natural disaster in the history of South Carolina.
In 2012, the Railroad Team was called upon to provide onsite emergency assistance in response to a major derailment in Paulsboro, New Jersey.

Railroad Law

GWB’s Railroad Team has well over 50 years of combined experience representing national railroads and short line railroads in a variety of matters facing the rail industry. With offices in Greenville and Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina, GWB’s Railroad Team is well-positioned to respond to rail incidents occurring anywhere in the Carolinas. Members of GWB’s Railroad Team have been at the forefront of significant railroad law in South Carolina, including serving as trial and appellate counsel in the South Carolina Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Whaley v. CSX Transportation, Inc. GWB attorneys have also successfully tried to verdict a wide variety of railroad cases, including grade crossing cases, FELA claims, and property disputes. GWB Shareholders Danny White and Ron Wray are listed in Best Lawyers in America in the area of railroad law.

GWB Railroad Team attorneys have substantial experience in a variety of issues facing the rail industry. The team provides statewide, regional, and national representation to Class 1 railroads, including Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation. GWB attorneys serve as system-wide counsel for both Norfolk Southern and CSX in matters relating to locomotive digital video recording units installed in the cabs of many locomotives.

The team is creative in their approach when helping their railroad clients resolve disputes. For example, GWB’s Railroad Team helped negotiate, draft and served as defense class counsel in two personal injury class action settlements arising from a train derailment and subsequent release of chlorine (Curtis v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company and Olvera v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company). The class settlement addressed both serious personal and psychological injury claims. Additionally, GWB’s vast experience is especially helpful in providing advice and counsel to short line railroads on the unique issues that short line railroads face.

Significant railroad litigation and other matters handled by the firm during the past 10 years include the following:

Emergency response and accident investigations;
Grade crossing accidents;
Derailments;
Catastrophic injuries, brain injuries, toxic inhalation injuries, and wrongful death;
Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) occupational injuries;
Mass tort/class actions;
Trespasser injuries;
Eminent domain and condemnation issues;
Real property and water rights disputes;
Risk management and regulatory compliance;
Preemption issues;
Leases, track agreements, and other contractual issues;
Catastrophic property damage claims;
Environmental matters;
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigations;
Venue issues;
Spoliation and electronic discovery issues;
Proprietary video and data recorder issues.

Emergency Response

Members of the Railroad Team are called upon at all hours of the night and day and stand ready to assist the firm’s railroad clients in the event of an emergency or catastrophic accident. The team provides its clients with an emergency response contact sheet which contains the work, home and cellular telephone numbers of each team member in order to better serve GWB’s railroad clients. With offices in Greenville and Columbia, South Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina GWB’s Railroad Team is well-positioned to respond to rail incidents occurring anywhere in the Carolinas.

In 2005, members of GWB’s Railroad Team served as lead counsel in the emergency response and post-accident investigation and claims handling of the largest non-natural disaster in the history of South Carolina – the Graniteville train derailment. Team members were on-site within hours of the derailment and were involved in advising the client and directing aspects of the emergency response. In 2012, the Railroad Team was called upon to provide on site emergency assistance in response to a major derailment in Paulsboro, New Jersey.

GWB brings a vast amount of experience with emergency response and the evidence preservation issues that arise after a catastrophic accident. GWB not only brings an experienced Railroad Litigation Team that has represented national railroads and short line railroads in South Carolina and North Carolina for years, but the experience and knowledge of former South Carolina Bar and future South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys Association presidents and officers.