CSX Transportation, one of the largest freight railroads in the eastern United States, has been a party to a broad mix of lawsuits over the past two decades. The most consequential CSX lawsuits involve antitrust claims by shippers, retaliation cases brought by injured or safety-reporting workers, class actions over Family and Medical Leave Act practices, sex discrimination enforcement by the EEOC, derailment-related personal injury and environmental cases, and Federal Employers’ Liability Act claims. Some have ended in wins for the railroad, others in multimillion-dollar penalties, and several remain active in 2026.
The Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Case
The largest and longest-running case is In re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation, filed in 2007. More than 100 shippers, in over 114 separate suits later consolidated, accused CSX, BNSF Railway, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific of colluding to impose inflated fuel surcharges between 2003 and 2008. Damages sought reached into the billions.1Compass Lexecon. Landmark Victory in Long-Standing Rail Freight Antitrust Litigation
After roughly 18 years of litigation, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell granted summary judgment for the railroads on June 24, 2025. The court found the shippers lacked evidence that the four railroads coordinated their surcharge programs rather than adopting them independently, pointing to differences in timing and formulas and to the plain business logic of surcharges during high fuel prices.1Compass Lexecon. Landmark Victory in Long-Standing Rail Freight Antitrust Litigation2American Antitrust Institute. AAI Asks D.C. Circuit to Stop the Bleeding of Plus Factors in Section 1 Cases
The shippers appealed to the D.C. Circuit (Case No. 25-7103), arguing the district court effectively required “unusual” parallelism to prove conspiracy. The American Antitrust Institute filed an amicus brief supporting them in December 2025. The appeal is pending.2American Antitrust Institute. AAI Asks D.C. Circuit to Stop the Bleeding of Plus Factors in Section 1 Cases
CSX v. Norfolk Southern Over Port of Virginia Access
In 2018, CSX sued Norfolk Southern and the Norfolk and Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad under Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, alleging the defendants conspired to shut CSX out of the international shipping market at the Norfolk International Terminal. The Belt Line, jointly owned by CSX and Norfolk Southern, controls on-dock rail access. CSX said a $210-per-railcar switch rate imposed starting in 2010 made competition impossible. In 2018, CSX proposed lowering the rate to $80 and restructuring the Belt Line’s board; Norfolk Southern rejected the proposals.3FindLaw. CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company
The Eastern District of Virginia granted summary judgment to Norfolk Southern, ruling that the four-year antitrust statute of limitations barred CSX’s damages claims because the alleged conspiracy started in 2009 and 2010. On August 29, 2024, the Fourth Circuit affirmed, rejecting CSX’s continuing-violation argument and finding that simply maintaining an existing rate is not a new overt act. The Supreme Court denied certiorari on April 21, 2025, ending the case.3FindLaw. CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company4Supreme Court of the United States. CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company, No. 24-591
Whistleblower Retaliation Orders
The Department of Labor has repeatedly found that CSX retaliated against workers who raised safety concerns, in violation of the Federal Railroad Safety Act. The most recent significant order came on October 11, 2024, when a federal administrative law judge ordered CSX to reinstate two Waycross, Georgia workers and pay a combined $453,510. The two had reported a “blue flag” on their tracks in November 2017, indicating the train could not be moved safely, and were removed from their assignment and later fired. The award included $248,856 in back wages with interest, $100,000 for emotional distress, $100,000 in punitive damages, and $4,654 in health insurance premiums owed to one worker.5U.S. Department of Labor. US Department of Labor Judge Orders CSX Transportation to Reinstate, Pay Back Wages
The pattern goes back years. In July 2021, OSHA ordered CSX to pay $221,976 to a New Orleans worker fired in retaliation for safety complaints. In October 2020, the agency ordered reinstatement and more than $170,000 for a worker in Rebecca, Georgia, terminated after filing a safety report. Earlier whistleblower investigations at a locomotive shop and dispatch office in Selkirk, New York, in 2016 and 2010, also produced reinstatements and damages.5U.S. Department of Labor. US Department of Labor Judge Orders CSX Transportation to Reinstate, Pay Back Wages
The FMLA Class Action
On May 7, 2024, seven CSX employees filed a proposed class action in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Case No. 3:24-cv-00451) alleging that the railroad systematically punishes workers for using leave protected by the Family and Medical Leave Act. Lead plaintiffs are Brian Click, Harvey Ferran, Nicholas Ingrodi, Brad Jackson, Jeremy Likes, Chris Straight, and Antoine Thompson.6ClassAction.org. Click et al. v. CSX Transportation, Inc.
According to the complaint, CSX counts FMLA leave by the day rather than the hour, so an employee who takes four hours of protected leave is charged for a full day; leave that spans midnight is charged as two days. The suit also targets a 2015 point-based attendance policy, alleging employees on FMLA leave during a “remediation period” cannot reduce negative points. Plaintiffs say CSX has fired or suspended more than 100 employees since 2017 based on what they call baseless FMLA fraud accusations.7Florin Gray. Federal Lawsuit Claims CSX Punished Employees for Using FMLA
The $3.2 Million EEOC Sex Discrimination Settlement
In August 2017, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued CSX in the Southern District of West Virginia, alleging its physical abilities tests for jobs like conductor and material handler produced a class-wide disparate impact on women, violating Title VII. Court filings showed men passed the “heavy” tests at 87% versus 30% for women, and the “medium heavy” tests at 94% versus 47%. CSX had used the tests since at least 2008. The case settled for $3.2 million.8EEOC. EEOC Sues CSX Transportation for Company-Wide Sex Discrimination9HR Dive. CSX Pays $3.2M to Settle EEOC Suit Over Physical Strength Tests
Derailment Cases
Mount Carbon, West Virginia (2015)
A CSX train derailed in Mount Carbon on February 16, 2015, sending about 27 cars off the tracks. Each car carried roughly 29,000 gallons of Bakken crude oil, and about half caught fire. A home was destroyed, neighborhoods evacuated, a water intake shut down, and a state of emergency declared. Under a 2018 consent decree in the Southern District of West Virginia, CSX paid a $1.2 million federal civil penalty to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a $1 million state civil penalty, and contributed $500,000 to a state escrow account for a wastewater treatment facility in Fayette County.10EPA. CSX Transportation, Inc. Settlement Information Sheet11GovInfo. Notice of Lodging of Proposed Consent Decree
Livingston, Kentucky (2023)
On November 22, 2023, at least 16 cars of a CSX train derailed in Livingston, Kentucky. Two cars carrying molten sulfur were breached and ignited, releasing sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide and forcing evacuations. A community class action alleging negligence was filed in December 2023.12Morgan & Morgan. Livingston Train Derailment13ClassAction.org. CSX Transportation Inc. Class Action Lawsuits
Seven firefighters who responded to the derailment sued CSX separately for toxic fume injuries. On June 16, 2025, U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove in the Eastern District of Kentucky trimmed most of their claims, ruling that Kentucky law barred their strict liability theories.14Law360. KY Judge Trims Firefighters’ Claims in CSX Derailment Suit
FELA Injury Cases
Because CSX is a railroad, injured workers sue under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act rather than through state workers’ compensation. Two appellate rulings stand out.
In CSX Transportation v. Hensley, a Tennessee jury awarded electrician Thurston Hensley $5 million under FELA for asbestosis and related fear of developing cancer. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 2009 per curiam opinion, reversed the Tennessee Court of Appeals and sided with CSX, holding that when fear-of-cancer damages are sought, the jury must be instructed that the fear has to be genuine and serious. The case was remanded.15Justia. CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Hensley, 556 U.S. 838
In Bowers v. CSX Transportation, Luther Bowers sued after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, alleging negligent exposure to diesel exhaust, asbestos, and silica dust over a 30-year career. He died before trial. The trial court excluded his medical expert for failing to rule out smoking as a cause and granted CSX summary judgment. A divided Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed on April 17, 2024, and the Georgia Supreme Court denied review the day before, on April 16, 2024.16CaseMine. Bowers v. CSX Transportation Inc., No. A23A0839
Total Penalty Picture Since 2000
Data from the Good Jobs First Violation Tracker puts CSX’s total penalties since 2000 at roughly $259.9 million across more than 2,100 enforcement actions. Environmental violations account for about $229.5 million of that, driven largely by a $220 million state private lawsuit entry from 2002. Railroad safety violations, mostly Federal Railroad Administration cases, total about $22.8 million across more than 2,000 records. Employment-related penalties, including discrimination settlements and retaliation orders, total about $7.2 million.17Good Jobs First Violation Tracker. CSX Violation Tracker