July 12, 2023 - Epoch Times
10:03
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| Good evening, and right before we dive in, I'd like to quickly mention that with July 4th just behind us, well, the Epoch Times is having an awesome sale on subscriptions. | |
| Just 25 cents a week for the whole year, which, if you do the math, works itself out to just be a dollar a month. | |
| And so if you've been on the fence, if you've been thinking about it, you're not sure whether to subscribe or not, but you keep on going to the Epoch Times website and you're hit with the paywall again and again and it's getting frustrating, well, perhaps take this July 4th sale as an opportunity to subscribe and try it for yourself. | |
| The sale, by the way, is going to be ending this weekend. | |
| I'll throw a link down into the description box below this video. | |
| You can click on that link and head on over and try the Epoch Times yourself for just a single dollar a month. | |
| Now, jumping into today's main topic, the U.S. Supreme Court has just issued a new major decision. | |
| Specifically, in a case which came out of Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court ruled against the Norfolk Southern Railway Corporation. | |
| And this ruling has very, very broad implications, and it'll likely have a direct impact on your life if you ever wish to challenge a large corporation in court. | |
| And so let me back up and explain the details of this case to you, as well as the implications that it'll have on your life. | |
| To start with, this case was brought forth against everyone's favorite train operator, the Norfolk Southern Railway Corporation. | |
| And if you hear that name and you think, hmm, that sounds a little bit familiar, well, that might be because it was exactly this train operator which was involved in that toxic chemical spill over in East Palestine, Ohio. | |
| However, even before they were trying to clean up the rivers and the air in Ohio, well, it seems like Norfolk Southern might have been using toxic chemicals on the train cars themselves. | |
| Here's what happened with one train car mechanic who worked for the company for about 20 full years. | |
| Quote, Robert Bellory worked for Norfolk Southern as a freight car mechanic for almost 20 years, first in Ohio, then in Virginia. | |
| During his time with the company, he was responsible for spraying boxcar pipes with asbestos and handling chemicals in the railroad's paint shop. | |
| He also demolished car interiors that he claimed contained carcinogens. | |
| And so, as this summary laid out, Robert worked as a Norfolk Southern train mechanic for nearly 20 years, first in Ohio, then in Virginia, all the while dealing with toxic chemicals such as asbestos. | |
| Robert then eventually left the company and, quote, moved to Pennsylvania for a time before returning to Virginia. | |
| Along the way, he was diagnosed with cancer, which he blamed the company for. | |
| He hired lawyers in Pennsylvania to sue his former employer in Pennsylvania state court under the Federal Employers Liability Act. | |
| Now, that particular law, the Federal Employers Liability Act, was enacted all the way back in the year 1906 in order to provide protections for railroad workers who were injured on the job. | |
| That federal law, it covers a wide range of injuries, including injuries that were caused by chemical exposures. | |
| And among other things, that law created a workers' compensation system which allows trained car employees, like Robert, to recover damages that resulted from the negligence of his employer. | |
| However, Norfolk Southern, they didn't just take this lying down. | |
| They didn't just go ahead and compensate the man for his cancer diagnosis. | |
| Instead, their lawyers resisted the lawsuit on constitutional grounds. | |
| Quote, "Lawyers for Northfolk Southern noted that by the time Robert filed his complaint, he lived in Virginia. | |
| His complaint alleged that he was exposed to carcinogens in Ohio and Virginia. | |
| Meanwhile, the company itself was incorporated in Virginia and had its headquarters there. | |
| Norfolk Southern argued this meant that any effort by a Pennsylvania court to exercise personal jurisdiction over it would offend the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution." Now this is where things get, you can say, a little bit weird. | |
| You see, Robert, he currently lives in the state of Virginia. | |
| The alleged chemical exposures, they took place in Ohio and Virginia. | |
| And Norfolk Southern is headquartered in Virginia. | |
| And yet, Robert decided to file his lawsuit all the way out in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. | |
| And the reason that he chose to do this was actually rather simple. | |
| Robert's lawyers were essentially forum shopping. | |
| Even though Virginia was the most convenient and obvious place to file the lawsuit, they believed that Robert would get a more favorable jury pool over in the state of Pennsylvania. | |
| And the reason that they were able to do it this way, the reason that they were able to file this lawsuit in a state that technically had nothing to do with the case, is because Pennsylvania has a very unique law on the books, something that's not seen in any other state. | |
| It's called the Pennsylvania's Title 15, Subsection 411. | |
| And this law, it requires all companies who register to do business within the state of Pennsylvania to face the people who sue them in Pennsylvania state court. | |
| It's a unique law that's, again, not seen anywhere else in the nation. | |
| And so, in light of this law, here was Robert's legal argument. | |
| Quote, This is important because Pennsylvania requires out-of-state companies that register to do business in the state to agree to appear in its courts on any cause of action against them. | |
| This meant that the company had consented to be sued in Pennsylvania on claims just like this one. | |
| Essentially, his argument here was that by registering to do business in Pennsylvania, the train company consented themselves to be sued within the state because the state of Pennsylvania has a statute on the books. | |
| Eventually, after six full years of legal back and forth, the case finally wound up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, who, in a fractured 5-4 decision, ruled against the train company. | |
| Specifically, Justices Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown-Jackson, and Neil Gorsuch ruled in favor of Robert, the train conductor. | |
| Here is part of what the majority opinion of the court said. | |
| And just for reference, this majority opinion was written by Neil Gorsuch. | |
| Quote, Not every case poses a new question. | |
| This case poses a very old question indeed. | |
| One this court resolved more than a century ago in another case called Pennsylvania Fire Insurance vs. | |
| Gold Issue Mining Company. | |
| Because that decision remains the law, the judgment of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is vacated and the case is remanded. | |
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| And now let's head on back to the studio. | |
| Meaning in plain English that the US Supreme Court found that this Pennsylvania law, which requires out-of-state companies who want to do business in Pennsylvania to agree to the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania state courts, well, it is indeed constitutional. | |
| It does not violate the 14th Amendment. | |
| And the reason that this is so important is because large corporations, who have vast resources available to them, they routinely look for the best jurisdictions to file lawsuits in. | |
| Meaning, if a large company needs to get involved in some sort of a litigation, their legal teams are always looking for the most favorable locations. | |
| The states with the most favorable laws, the counties with the most sympathetic jury pool, and other factors. | |
| However, with this ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, well, it now opens the door for other states to pass similar laws to the one that's already in the books in Pennsylvania. | |
| And if that happens, it means that the common person, like you and me, can also forum shop. | |
| If these laws get adopted across the country, then, just like Robert the train mechanic, you will be able to file your lawsuit against a giant corporation not in the corporation's backyard, but rather in some other jurisdiction where the jury pool might be a little bit more sympathetic to your case. | |
| And so, for instance, if you someday need to file a lawsuit against, let's say, Google, instead of having to face them in California, in a Silicon Valley courtroom, where the jury pool will likely be made up of people who depend on Google for either their livelihoods or their property values, you might instead be able to sue them in a Wyoming district, where the jury pool will instead be made up of a bunch of farmers, farmhands, and ranchers who might be a bit more sympathetic to your cause. | |
| That is the true implication of the Supreme Court ruling. | |
| If you'd like to read this majority opinion for yourself, I'll throw a link to the PDF version of it. | |
| It'll be down in the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| Which, by the way, is of course that description box right below those like and subscribe buttons that I hope you take a quick moment to smash so this video can reach ever more people via the YouTube algorithm. | |
| Now lastly, as I mentioned at the very top of the episode as well, if you would like to try the Epic Times and get unlimited access to everything, all of our articles, all of our infographics, all the documentaries, the shows and the movies on Epic TV, and everything we publish, well, now is a great time with the July 4th sale, which is again ending this weekend. | |
| I'll throw a link to the sale page. | |
| It'll be right there in the description box below. | |
| You can use it to sign up for just a single dollar a month and try the Epic Times for yourself. | |
| I'm sure you'll love it. | |
| Again, it'll be right there at the top of the description box below. | |
| And then, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times. | |
| Stay informed. |
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