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Whoa there Dan!! There are more than adequate facts here to realize the sheriff's department in this case is in the wrong. They just haven't realized it yet, and unfortunately they are about to receive instruction concerning that point. The fact that the incident happened and that they foolishly arrested the engineer and held him is more than enough grounds for a lawsuit by the engineer and probably the railroad as well against Montgomery County. First off, if civil legal action is to be taken it must be brought by the injured party, in this case being the Locomotive Engineer and/or the railroad. The FRA, BLE and UTU have no legal standing to bring such a proceeding. In the case of the criminal charge against the engineer, his defense counsel should seek an immediate dismissal as the local criminal court lacks jurisdiction to hear the matter as the Texas Criminal Code is preempted in this case by Federal Statute as Ed correctly points out. Second, the Timber Rock RR is part of WATCO, and they are plenty big enough to afford their own lawyers. I'm sure they are very much involved in defending their man. In addition, I'd be very surprised if one didn't see amicus briefs from FRA/DOT, AAR, ASLRRA, BLET and UTU when and if this hits the appellate level, but that is only a "me too" sort of involvement and won't truly involve those agencies or organizations as parties to the litigation. Also, remember that there is already significant precedent in this area which is one reason Congress has enacted a statute to govern these situations and not left the law to interpretation. Like I said before, I wouldn't want to be defending these deputies. Hope Montgomery County has a large tax base... LC
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