2024

First Quarter

Middlesex Water Company v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

Docket No. 3:23 CV-483, Decided January 18, 2024, Unreported Opinion

On January 18, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed with prejudice Middlesex Water Company’s (Middlesex) complaint finding that all four elements of claim preclusion were met. First, the subject matter of the state and federal lawsuits is identical in that they both challenge the constitutionality of a provision of the PUC’s November 18, 2021, order requiring Middlesex to place $1.675 million into escrow. Second, the causes of action are the same. Middlesex’s request for just compensation in the form of damages did not transform its federal claims into separate causes of action for purposes of claim preclusion. Third, Middlesex was in privity with Twin Lakes in the prior state court proceedings because Middlesex effectively directed and controlled the action through Twin Lakes, which “adequately represented” Middlesex’s interests. Lastly, Middlesex’s capacity to sue or be sued is sufficiently identical to its capacity in the prior state court proceeding via Twin Lakes.

Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad, Inc. v. PUC

Docket No. 489 CD 2023, Pa. Cmwlth. Unpublished Memorandum Opinion – March 1, 2024

The Commonwealth Court upheld the Commission’s decision to direct Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad remove three railroad bridge structures in Knox Township, Jefferson County.  The Court found the decision that three Railroad Crossings over township roads were unsafe was supported by substantial evidence given the bridges’ conditions and the abutments’ locations even though there was no evidence of accidents involving the abutments and the roads were less travelled township roads. There was no error in considering PennDOT information regarding vehicle safety even if the material relates to state highways rather than Township roads. Further, there was no error in  considering the concept of clear zones on the narrowed roadway next to the abutments when evaluating the safety of crossings under the Commission’s jurisdiction.  The Commission has authority to correct a hazardous condition, even where there is no record evidence of any serious accidents. Thus, the lack of prior accidents does not preclude the Commission from concluding that a condition is hazardous and directing that the hazardous condition be abated.  Finally, the Court held that although the bridges may have been constructed a hundred years earlier, the test is not whether they were a safety risk when constructed 100 years ago, but rather whether the Crossings pose a safety risk now. Given changes to transportation over the last 100 years, a manual that describes dangers to modern drivers from objects in a road’s clear zone is relevant to the Crossings that continue to be used today whose abutments are in the clear zone.