Minot derailment victims win 8th Circuit case
by The Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. -- The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a federal law change approved in response to a deadly train derailment and chemical spill on the edge of Minot is constitutional.

Legislation signed by President Bush last August says people can bring personal-injury lawsuits against railroads in state court under certain circumstances.

A federal judge had ruled earlier that the Federal Railroad Safety Act protected Canadian Pacific Railway from such claims stemming from the January 2002 Minot derailment. Congress later changed the law. Canadian Pacific argued the change was unconstitutional.

The 8th Circuit ruling means that some Minot residents whose lawsuits against Canadian Pacific Railway were thrown out of federal court will have their cases returned to state court in Minnesota.

The appeals court ruling was not unanimous. One of the three judges on the panel dissented.