Burlington Northern Railroad Company v. State Of Montana

880 F.2d 1104 BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STATE OF MONTANA; the Montana Department of Public Service Regulation, Public Service Commission; and Michael Greely, Attorney General, Defendants-Appellants, and United Transportation Union, Defendant-Intervenor-Appellant. Nos. 87-4428, 87-4455. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Feb. 10, 1989. Decided July 26, 1989. Timothy R. Baker, Montana Dept. of Public Service Regulation, Public Service Com'n, Helena, Mont., and Joe R. Roberts, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dept. of Justice, Helena, Mont., for defendants-appellants. Betty Jo Christian, Steptoe & Johnson, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Montana. Before HUG, NORRIS and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges. WILLIAM A. NORRIS, Circuit Judge: 1 The State of Montana appeals a decision of the United States District Court for the District of Montana holding that a Montana statute requiring an occupied caboose on trains more than two-thousand feet in length is preempted by Federal Railroad Administration ("FRA") safety regulations. Those regulations were issued under the…