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4th Circ. Won t Undo Norfolk Southern s Loss To Coal Seller
Law360 (June 29, 2021, 7:15 PM EDT) The Fourth Circuit Tuesday affirmed a lower court s decision to rescind Norfolk Southern Railway Co. s contract with a coal seller that complained the railroad made it harder to ship into U.S. markets, finding that, based on the evidence, a reasonable jury could have sided with the latter.
In a unanimous, published decision, the panel backed a Virginia federal court finding that was based on a jury decision that the railroad breached its contract with coal seller Drummond Coal Sales Inc.
The panel found Tuesday that Drummond showed sufficient evidence that, based on liquidated damages provisions in a confidential contract with third-party.
Drummond Coal Sales Inc. v. Kinder Morgan Operating LP “C”, 2021 WL 613748.
The issue addressed was whether the inability to meet the minimum tonnage shipping requirements were excused because of the impact of government environmental regulations.
Drummond Coal Sales Inc. (“Drummond”) and Kinder Morgan Operating LP “C” (“Kinder Morgan”) entered into a 10-year contract. Kinder Morgan agreed to allow Drummond to import coal through its Shipyard River Terminal (“Terminal”) in Charleston, South Carolina.
Drummond is stated to have committed to importing between 3, 111,111 and 4,000,000 tons of coal per year through the Terminal. In the event the minimum tonnage requirement was not met, shortfall payments to Kinder Morgan were required.