Effect of rail lines buy on suit unclear
A lawsuit against Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway filed earlier this year by a Canadian rail operator is still alive, though it's unclear how the state's purchase of MM&A's rail lines in northern Maine will affect the suit.
U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock in Bangor yesterday reviewed the suit filed by Canadian National Railway Co., which claims MM&A is using an error in property easement deeds to block its access to Twin Rivers Paper Co. in Madawaska, according to the Bangor Daily News. The two companies have operated under an easement agreement that gives both access to tracks from New Brunswick, but CN argued a "mutual mistake" on the property description restricts its access to a few hundred yards from the Madawaska mill and prevents it from shipping freight for Twin Rivers.
In a countersuit, MM&A argued its longstanding right to maintain traffic on the line would be violated by CN taking shipments from the mill, and said Twin River's decision to split its freight traffic between MM&A and CN contributed to the operating loss MM&A sustained on the 233 miles of track it's selling to the state, according to the paper. The state last month reached an agreement with MM&A to buy the lines for $20.1 million.
The outcome of Judge Woodcock's review was not available, and it is unclear how the sale of the tracks will affect the lawsuit and counterclaim, according to the paper.
Go to the article from the Bangor Daily News >>
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