HNRK Secures Rare Defense-Side Summary Judgment in Federal Railroad Safety Act Lawsuit
News
09.24.2018
On September 24, Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, LLP, secured a rare defense-side summary judgment win in a case brought under the whistleblower protection provision of the Federal Railroad Safety Act. Very few cases have been successfully defended under this new section of the statute, which became effective in 2008.
The case, Tompkins v. Metro-North Commuter Railroad, No. 16 Civ. 9920 (JPO), 2018 WL 4573008 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 24, 2018), is a significant win for railroad employers across the country. The court took a common-sense approach to the interpretation of the statute, ensuring that the protections intended for genuine whistleblowers cannot be used to insulate misbehaving employees from the consequences of their insubordination.