Nostalgia & History > The Case of the Burned Boxcars

I found a "Respondent's Answering Brief" for a case in the Oregon Supreme Court, Southern Pacific vs. Campbell-McLean Inc. It seems to be from April of 1962.
Basically, the SP had tried to blame the owner of a burned warehouse for the loss of box cars which were on the adjacent spur. Implying that the refuse burners, or lighting circuits, had started the fire, although the fire was officially "of unknown origin."
But Campbell-McLean pointed to warehouse employee testimony that the fire was first spotted away from the refuse burners (which had been shut down) and away from lights-- and near the doorway which was close to the box cars. They also claimed it was common for SP to set trash fires on the ground between the spur and the main track.

The case is Southern Pacific Company v. Campbell McLean, Inc., 232 Or. 467, 376 P.2d 77 (1962) (for those who are interested in the legal citation). The trial court threw out SP's case on the ground that there was insufficient evidence that the defendant was negligent to send the case to the jury. The Oregon Supreme Court (at the time the only Oregon appellate court) held that there was evidence of negligence by the defendant but not that the negligence caused the damage. It therefore affirmed the trial court and the SP was out of luck. The law firm for the SP, incidentally, was its regular Oregon law firm for many years. It still exists under a different name, although I don't think that it represents the railroad any more. The specific lawyer who handled the case was probably one of the best-known and best appellate lawyers in Oregon at the time, but, as all lawyers know, you don't win every case. This is the sort of business vs. business case that is the meat and butter of commercial litigation.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/10 10:35 by BobB.