LAWSUIT AGAINST CSX

[Anonymous]

What about the lawsuit against CSX.

[Anonymous]

Some people obviously have way too much time on their hands. This brings new definition to far-fetched.

[thirdrail1]

This is politically motivated and I don't think we want to go there on this forum. Can you spell "extortion"?

[RudyRockvilleMD]

Is this some April Fool gag a week early?

[Anonymous]

I don't think so. I heard it mentioned on MSNBC.

[therailnut]

Pardon for walking in the middle of this. But what is CSX being sued for??

[n2mopac]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I assume we are discussing the lawsuit for damages resulting from slavery practices 140+ years ago. I saw the plantiff's attourneys on CNN this morning. This might have been a reasonable suit 120 years ago, but now it just seems like a way to stir up racial strife. Besides, wouldn't the statute of limitations on any actual crime committed have run out a century ago or more. I don't understand why people should be punnished or rewarded today based on the actions of our great-great grandparents, no matter what their crimes might have been. That is not what the American justice system is supposed to be about.
Ron

[Anonymous]

Its the american way,pretty soon we'll be able to sue someone if they look at us the wrong way.

[Anonymous]

I have always been opposed to bigotry,although I know that it's an unfortunate part of human nature. The law suit is patently ridiculous,and will probably stir up extremists on all sides. It makes about as much sense as, say, a group of Irish Americans suing the government of the United Kingdom over the Briti***reatment of the Irish during the Great Potato famine(I'm only using that as a hypothetical).
-Jon Carney

[mnwestern]

If this flies (and then pigs will too), the tribes still in Africa had best get their lawyers lined up for their defense because they did the actual capturing of slaves, often as captives taken in tribal war, and sold them to the Spanish and Portuguese traders on the coast. When would it end? Will the descendants of the Tories who had to move to Canada after the Revolutionary War then want reimbursement? Can the Creoles of Louisiana sue the British for being moved out of Nova Scotia? Can the Celts sue for being defeated by the Normans? Rubbish.

[Anonymous]

You musta seen Bill O'Rielly. He did good going
after the NAACP guy. He made all of the same points and concluded that this whole thing is
pantently rediculous. I wholeheartedly concur.

[thirdrail1]

O'Reilly had this on "No-Spin Zone" last night, the 27th. Since all the other posts are from the 26th or earlier, they could not possibly have seen his show on this. Give us some credit for being able to reach the same conclusion withour seeing it on television!

[Anonymous]

As repulsive as it was, slavery was legal when this whole thing took place before the civil war, so being legal, (not right) there was never a crime commited.

[Anonymous]

I wasn't going to dignify your attitude with a response. What you need to do is take a chill
pill and lighten up!!!

[eolafan]

Here's an idea that follows the same thought line as the CSX suit...let all the Christians sue the government of Italy (which used to be the Roman Empire)for the persecution of us Christians back in the "old days". Our forefathers were slaves back then too, and didn't our slave forefathers build the monuments, Apian highway, etc., etc.? Hmmm, there's a thought that might lead to some cash in the good old pocket for no good reason, just the way this CSX suit will lead to no good results other than (not that this is good, mind you) getting a bunch of fringe politicians, special interest groups and lawyers names into the press (Reverand Jesse, Reverend Al, are you listening?).

[Anonymous]

don't you know that in america anybody can sue anybody and it the legal way to get them to pay something that is less rather than have the cost of defending the stupid suit which would be more

[Anonymous]

Enslaving the Jews during WW2 was also fully legal under German law at the time, the various corperations and the current German government have been found responcible in the courts. The federal courts have also ruled in favor of people, or their heirs, held or killed by various terrorist organizations, forign governments, etc giving them frozen or seazed assets. Just because somthing is legal at the time and or place it happens doesn't mean that it can not be brought into court at a later date. The American justice system is not a static one, it evolves after all, there are various laws and juditial decisions that have happened in the past that would not happen today. I.E. "letters of mark",legalized piracy, which are still Constitutional on paper.

BTW, incase theres anyone wondering, I'm white.

[Anonymous]

I understand your point Joshua, but comparing the CSX to the government in Nazi germany is stretching really not fair to the people that work for it. Our system of laws is fluid, but to sue a corporation for something that took place a hundred and fifty years ago and was legal in our own system is pushing the raft over the waterfall. Frivolous lawsuits are just one of the reasons our justice system has become what it has become.

[Anonymous]

Joshua,

What does your remark about the "Letters of mark" and Legalized piracy mean?

Incidently, is English your first language?

I thought someone would attempt to draw a parallel between the crimes in Nazi Germany and the slavery issue in America when I read the earlier post. There is at least one important distinction . . . CSX had no control over what happened back then but the German government did. Many individuals in the German government were held accountable for their actions as defined by a worldwide standard.

In case anyone wants to discuss a worldwide standard being applied to the CSX case (which I personally would not care for), it is my understanding that slaves have been a part of every significant society at one time or another. Every corporation in every country would in turn be sued by one group after another and only the lawyers get rich.

A friend of mine told me once that slaves were abandoned in England only a few decades before they were abandoned in the U.S. I would be surprised if none of my ancestors were slaves at one point or another. I see no basis for any such claim being made today and I loath the lawyers using this pathetic excuse to generate rewards for themselves at the expense of hard working individuals who make CSX a fine transportation company in the U.S.

Ed

[thirdrail1]

Letters of mark (or marque)" were commissions by a government to a privately owned ship to act as a warship on behalf of that government in action against enemy shipping. Such ships were known as "privateers" and were compensated by being allowed to keep what was captured from enemy shipping. In other words, they were pirates acting under government authority. The US government last granted such letters during the War of 1812.

CSX was a poor choice to sue, as its corporate lineage (surviving corporation in mergers) goes back only to the Depression before running into the reorganization of bankrupt railroads, whose debts were discharged by the bankruptcy.

[Anonymous]

I was not sure if any of CSX’s former companies had survived the depression or not
without bankruptcy, so I did not mention it. Obviously since the former companies went
through it they would be immune under bankruptcy law. I was not drawing a connection
between the *** and CSX, rather between the use of slave labor for profit in both cases,
various companies worked directly with the government even at various death camps. I
am not CSX people are responsible for the past, clearly they aren’t, I’m not even sure that
the case is all that sound, I’m just pointing out that there is precedence, which counts a
good deal in both civil court, and public opinion. I have no problem with CSX, in fact I’d
say that they are my favorite eastern Class 1 road, and certainly are better run then say NS
or Guilford from what I have observed.

Joshua

PS, letters of marque are explained in Gregg's post, they are mentioned as an example of changing laws and such.

[n2mopac]

The difference here is that the suits you mentioned were brought by the individuals involved and affected by the issue in those cases or their immediated descendants, not by their great-great grandchildren 200 years later, and not by some unrelated lawyer who just happened to be the same ethnicity 200 years later. The truth is this is, as stated above, politically motivated by those who want to keep racial strife in the headlines for their own personal, political advantage. It has nothing to do with entitlement or real damage done. Slavery was terrible, and it is a blight in the history of our country. Saddly there are many who want to keep the severity of that blight in the eyes of the world forever. I believe they dishonor their own ancestors who suffered under slavery by trying to gain personal advantage because of it.
Ron

[Anonymous]

Could someone tell me of a significant civilization that never had slaves in their history? I don't think the Americans of the twenty first century need to be ashamed that there were slaves in America in the nineteenth century. And I hope nobody considers that an endorsement of slavery either. The whole thing is extortion! - Ed

[cprted]

This is a class action civil suit, the statute of limitations applies only to prosecution under the criminal code.

[thirdrail1]

Funny, I always thought that bankruptcy and reorganization meant that suit could not be filed for debts incurred prior to the declaration of bankruptcy. The direct predecessors of CSX Corporation had been through the bankruptcy courts at least twice since the Late Unpleasantness.

[Anonymous]

Yup, where I come from we call it extortion.

[Anonymous]

it makes no differance wether you put a gun to someones head and say "Give me your money" or you serve someone with legal papers for a BS lawsuit its still robbery.

[Anonymous]

You really have to question though, along with the moral status of the lawyers serving the suit, but what kind of nutball judge would actually hear this kind of a case? There really is no legal precedence here, at least when comparing to the ***. This, as has been pointed out, is a civil class action (read:I need some cash and 15 minutes of fame or my career is done) lawsuit. The Nazi trials were war crimes trials. My biggest complaint with this whole issue is the fact that its brought up at all. This has all the makings of a publicity stunt pure and simple, I really wish it was an early April Fools joke. I have a lot of black friends, good people, and hard workers....and they honestly dont give a rats butt weather or not they get anything out of this debackle (I probably didnt spell that right). But then again, all it takes to get a law degree is good grades and the ca***o pay for the school. I shoulda been a lawer.

Matt

[Anonymous]

Actually, no one was referring to the Nuremberg tribunals. I was talking about the
various cases brought against German, and to a lesser extent French corporations which
either profited from the camps or in the case of the French National Railway, transported
people to the camps.

[Anonymous]

This country needs the "loser pays"legal system that some of the european governments use:If you sue someone and lose,you pay their legal fees as well as your own.Furthermore if it is a B.S. lawsuit like this one and it gets thrown out(like this one should),the plaintiff's lawyer should get nothing.Maybe there would be a few less lawsuits.