William A. Rilling v. Burlington Northern Railroad Company

William Rilling seeks to escape the effect of a settlement agreement he made with Burlington Northern. Burlington Northern had not told him when he signed the settlement that it was being sued in another action by a similarly situated plaintiff. The other plaintiff won, after Rilling had settled. We affirm the District Court decision holding Rilling to his agreement.

Facts

In 1967, the ICC approved the proposed merger of several railroads into the Burling ton Northern Railroad. When the ICC approved the merger, it provided employment protection to the railroad workers, pursuant to what has since become 49 U.S.C. § 11347 (1988). Northern Lines, 331 I.C.C. 228 (1967), aff'd 296 F.Supp. 853 (D.D.C.1968), aff'd 396 U.S. 491 , 90 S.Ct. 708 , 24 L.Ed.2d 700 (1970). This law, and the ICC merger approval order, gave the employees attrition protection and guaranteed compensation in the event of reductions in force. Basically, this meant that employees were entitled to continue to get paid, even if their jobs no longer existed, for the rest of their working lives. The guaranteed pay would be what they were receiving in 1970 when the merger order became final, plus economic…