Crowell & Moring Client CSX Wins Summary Judgment in 18-Year Antitrust Litigation

Washington – July 8, 2025: Crowell & Moring has secured summary judgment on behalf of longtime firm client CSX Transportation, Inc., prevailing in nearly 20 years of multi-district litigation known as In re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation. Crowell and three other leading firms representing prominent rail companies led a joint defense group in one of the longest-running and most complex antitrust litigations in U.S. history.

The cases began in 2007, when plaintiff shippers filed lawsuits alleging that CSX, BNSF Railway Co., Norfolk Southern Railway Co., and Union Pacific Railroad Co. conspired to impose artificially high and uniform fuel surcharges between 2003 and 2008 in violation of federal antitrust law. Eighteen separate class actions were consolidated by the MDL panel in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The bulk of early disputes focused on class certification. In 2019, CSX and other defendants successfully obtained denial of class certification. The victory reduced the scope of the litigation, but plaintiffs filed additional lawsuits from shippers who had opted out of the failed class. The lawsuits were consolidated in a second MDL. In total, the sprawling litigation spanned three dockets and comprised over 380 plaintiffs and 114 lawsuits, collectively seeking billions in damages, which could have been trebled had the defendants not prevailed. 

On June 24, 2025, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell granted defendants’ motions for summary judgment and denied the remaining motions as moot. In an important vindication of CSX’s steadfast defense of its conduct, the court found that plaintiffs lacked facts that tend to exclude the possibility that CSX and the other defendants acted unilaterally and made their decisions independently.

Crowell has represented CSX from the start, for nearly 20 years in both long-running MDLs. The Crowell team includes partners Kent A. Gardiner, Luke van Houwelingen, Juan A. Arteaga, Toni Michelle Jackson, and Eric P. Enson. Counsel are Eric Fanchiang and Drake Morgan. Associates are Melissa M. Nguyen, Rachel S. Lesser, and Zariah T. Altman. Additional team members include trial specialist Pamela Davis and senior paralegal Elizabeth Petrocco-Rodriguez.   

Co-counsel for CSX were David Wells, Julia Holden Davis, and Derek Mountford of Gunster.

Crowell co-led the joint defense group alongside Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP for BNSF Railway Company (co-counsel Steptoe LLP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP); Jones Day for Union Pacific Railroad (co-counsel: Latham & Watkins and Massey & Gail); and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP for Norfolk Southern Railway Co. (co-counsel: Gallivan White & Boyd, P.A.).

About Crowell & Moring LLP

Crowell & Moring is an international law firm with operations in the United States, Europe, MENA, and Asia. Drawing on significant government, business, industry, and legal experience, the firm helps clients capitalize on opportunities and provides creative solutions to complex regulatory and policy, litigation, transactional, and intellectual property issues. The firm is consistently recognized for its commitment to pro bono service, as well as its comprehensive programs and initiatives to advance the professional and personal development of all members of the Crowell community.

Media Contact:
Email: prteam@crowell.com