49 Usc 11708

§ 11707

TITLE 49—TRANSPORTATION

tion. The period for bringing a civil action is
computed from the date the carrier gives a person written notice that the carrier has disallowed any part of the claim specified in the
notice. For the purposes of this subsection—
(1) an offer of compromise shall not constitute a disallowance of any part of the claim
unless the carrier, in writing, informs the
claimant that such part of the claim is disallowed and provides reasons for such disallowance; and
(2) communications received from a carrier’s
insurer shall not constitute a disallowance of
any part of the claim unless the insurer, in
writing, informs the claimant that such part
of the claim is disallowed, provides reasons for
such disallowance, and informs the claimant
that the insurer is acting on behalf of the carrier.
(Added Pub. L. 104–88, title I, § 102(a), Dec. 29,
1995, 109 Stat. 847.)
PRIOR PROVISIONS
Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 11707 of this title prior to the general
amendment of this subtitle by Pub. L. 104–88, § 102(a).
A prior section 11706, Pub. L. 95–473, Oct. 17, 1978, 92
Stat. 1452; Pub. L. 97–258, § 3(n), Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat.
1066; Pub. L. 99–521, § 12(c), Oct. 22, 1986, 100 Stat. 2998;
Pub. L. 103–180, § 3, Dec. 3, 1993, 107 Stat. 2049; Pub. L.
103–429, § 6(18), Oct. 31, 1994, 108 Stat. 4379, related to
limitation on actions by and against common carriers,
prior to the general amendment of this subtitle by Pub.
L. 104–88, § 102(a). See sections 11705, 14705, and 15905 of
this title.
EFFECTIVE DATE
Section effective Jan. 1, 1996, except as otherwise provided in Pub. L. 104–88, see section 2 of Pub. L. 104–88,
set out as a note under section 1301 of this title.

§ 11707. Liability when property is delivered in
violation of routing instructions
(a)(1) When a rail carrier providing transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Board
under this part diverts or delivers property to
another rail carrier in violation of routing instructions in the bill of lading, both of those rail
carriers are jointly and severally liable to the
rail carrier that was deprived of its right to participate in hauling that property for the total
amount of the rate it would have received if it
participated in hauling the property.
(2) A rail carrier is not liable under paragraph
(1) of this subsection when it diverts or delivers
property in compliance with an order or regulation of the Board.
(3) A rail carrier to whom property is transported is not liable under this subsection if it
shows that it had no notice of the routing instructions before transporting the property. The
burden of proving lack of notice is on that rail
carrier.
(b) The court shall award a reasonable attorney’s fee to the plaintiff in a judgment against
the defendant rail carrier under subsection (a) of
this section. The court shall tax and collect that
fee as a part of the costs of the action.
(Added Pub. L. 104–88, title I, § 102(a), Dec. 29,
1995, 109 Stat. 849.)

Page 402
PRIOR PROVISIONS

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 11710 of this title prior to the general
amendment of this subtitle by Pub. L. 104–88, § 102(a).
Prior sections 11707 to 11712 were omitted in the general amendment of this subtitle by Pub. L. 104–88,
§ 102(a).
Section 11707, Pub. L. 95–473, Oct. 17, 1978, 92 Stat.
1453; Pub. L. 96–258, § 1(14), June 3, 1980, 94 Stat. 427;
Pub. L. 96–296, § 26(b), July 1, 1980, 94 Stat. 818; Pub. L.
96–448, title II, § 211(c), Oct. 14, 1980, 94 Stat. 1911; Pub.
L. 99–521, § 12(d), Oct. 22, 1986, 100 Stat. 2998; Pub. L.
100–690, title IX, § 9114, Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4535, related to liability of common carriers under receipts and
bills of lading. See sections 11706, 14706, and 15906 of this
title.
Section 11708, Pub. L. 95–473, Oct. 17, 1978, 92 Stat.
1454; Pub. L. 99–521, § 12(e)(1), (2), Oct. 22, 1986, 100 Stat.
2998, related to private enforcement of motor carrier
and household goods freight forwarder licensing requirements. See section 14707 of this title.
Section 11709, Pub. L. 95–473, Oct. 17, 1978, 92 Stat.
1454, related to liability for issuance of securities by
certain carriers.
Section 11710, Pub. L. 95–473, Oct. 17, 1978, 92 Stat.
1455, related to liability when property is delivered in
violation of routing instructions. See section 11707 of
this title.
Section 11711, added Pub. L. 96–454, § 7(a)(1), Oct. 15,
1980, 94 Stat. 2016; amended Pub. L. 97–261, § 6(d)(2),
Sept. 20, 1982, 96 Stat. 1107, related to dispute settlement program for household goods carriers. See section
14708 of this title.
Section 11712, added Pub. L. 103–180, § 4(a), Dec. 3, 1993,
107 Stat. 2049, related to tariff reconciliation rules for
motor common carriers of property. See section 14709 of
this title.
EFFECTIVE DATE
Section effective Jan. 1, 1996, except as otherwise provided in Pub. L. 104–88, see section 2 of Pub. L. 104–88,
set out as a note under section 1301 of this title.

§ 11708. Voluntary arbitration of certain rail
rates and practices disputes
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after
the date of the enactment of the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015, the
Board shall promulgate regulations to establish
a voluntary and binding arbitration process to
resolve rail rate and practice complaints subject
to the jurisdiction of the Board.
(b) COVERED DISPUTES.—The voluntary and
binding arbitration process established pursuant
to subsection (a)—
(1) shall apply to disputes involving—
(A) rates, demurrage, accessorial charges,
misrouting, or mishandling of rail cars; or
(B) a carrier’s published rules and practices as applied to particular rail transportation;
(2) shall not apply to disputes—
(A) to obtain the grant, denial, stay, or
revocation of any license, authorization, or
exemption;
(B) to prescribe for the future any conduct,
rules, or results of general, industry-wide applicability;
(C) to enforce a labor protective condition;
or
(D) that are solely between 2 or more rail
carriers; and
(3) shall not prevent parties from independently seeking or utilizing private arbitration

Page 403

TITLE 49—TRANSPORTATION

services to resolve any disputes the parties
may have.
(c) ARBITRATION PROCEDURES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Board—
(A) may make the voluntary and binding
arbitration process established pursuant to
subsection (a) available only to the relevant
parties;
(B) may make the voluntary and binding
arbitration process available only—
(i) after receiving the written consent to
arbitrate from all relevant parties; and
(ii)(I) after the filing of a written complaint; or
(II) through other procedures adopted by
the Board in a rulemaking proceeding;
(C) with respect to rate disputes, may
make the voluntary and binding arbitration
process available only to the relevant parties if the rail carrier has market dominance
(as determined under section 10707); and
(D) may initiate the voluntary and binding
arbitration process not later than 40 days
after the date on which a written complaint
is filed or through other procedures adopted
by the Board in a rulemaking proceeding.
(2) LIMITATION.—Initiation of the voluntary
and binding arbitration process shall preclude
the Board from separately reviewing a complaint or dispute related to the same rail rate
or practice in a covered dispute involving the
same parties.
(3) RATES.—In resolving a covered dispute involving the reasonableness of a rail carrier’s
rates, the arbitrator or panel of arbitrators, as
applicable, shall consider the Board’s methodologies for setting maximum lawful rates,
giving due consideration to the need for differential pricing to permit a rail carrier to
collect adequate revenues (as determined
under section 10704(a)(2)).
(d) ARBITRATION DECISIONS.—Any decision
reached in an arbitration process under this section—
(1) shall be consistent with sound principles
of rail regulation economics;
(2) shall be in writing;
(3) shall contain findings of fact and conclusions;
(4) shall be binding upon the parties; and
(5) shall not have any precedential effect in
any other or subsequent arbitration dispute.
(e) TIMELINES.—
(1) SELECTION.—An arbitrator or panel of arbitrators shall be selected not later than 14
days after the date of the Board’s decision to
initiate arbitration.
(2) EVIDENTIARY PROCESS.—The evidentiary
process of the voluntary and binding arbitration process shall be completed not later than
90 days after the date on which the arbitration
process is initiated unless—
(A) a party requests an extension; and
(B) the arbitrator or panel of arbitrators,
as applicable, grants such extension request.
(3) DECISION.—The arbitrator or panel of arbitrators, as applicable, shall issue a decision
not later than 30 days after the date on which
the evidentiary record is closed.

§ 11708

(4) EXTENSIONS.—The Board may extend any
of the timelines under this subsection upon
the agreement of all parties in the dispute.
(f) ARBITRATORS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Unless otherwise agreed by
all of the parties, an arbitration under this
section shall be conducted by an arbitrator or
panel of arbitrators, which shall be selected
from a roster, maintained by the Board, of
persons with rail transportation, economic
regulation, professional or business experience, including agriculture, in the private sector.
(2) INDEPENDENCE.—In an arbitration under
this section, the arbitrators shall perform
their duties with diligence, good faith, and in
a manner consistent with the requirements of
impartiality and independence.
(3) SELECTION.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—If the parties cannot mutually agree on an arbitrator, or the lead arbitrator of a panel of arbitrators, the parties
shall select the arbitrator or lead arbitrator
from the roster by alternately striking
names from the roster until only 1 name remains meeting the criteria set forth in paragraph (1).
(B) PANEL OF ARBITRATORS.—If the parties
agree to select a panel of arbitrators, instead of a single arbitrator, the panel shall
be selected under this subsection as follows:
(i) The parties to a dispute may mutually select 1 arbitrator from the roster to
serve as the lead arbitrator of the panel of
arbitrators.
(ii) If the parties cannot mutually agree
on a lead arbitrator, the parties shall select a lead arbitrator using the process described in subparagraph (A).
(iii) In addition to the lead arbitrator selected under this subparagraph, each party
to a dispute shall select 1 additional arbitrator from the roster, regardless of
whether the other party struck out the arbitrator’s name under subparagraph (A).
(4) COST.—The parties shall share the costs
incurred by the Board and arbitrators equally,
with each party responsible for paying its own
legal and other associated arbitration costs.
(g) RELIEF.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the limitations
set forth in paragraphs (2) and (3), an arbitral
decision under this section may award the
payment of damages or rate prescriptive relief.
(2) PRACTICE DISPUTES.—The damage award
for practice disputes may not exceed $2,000,000.
(3) RATE DISPUTES.—
(A) MONETARY LIMIT.—The damage award
for rate disputes, including any rate prescription, may not exceed $25,000,000.
(B) TIME LIMIT.—Any rate prescription
shall be limited to not longer than 5 years
from the date of the arbitral decision.
(h) BOARD REVIEW.—If a party appeals a decision under this section to the Board, the Board
may review the decision under this section to
determine if—
(1) the decision is consistent with sound
principles of rail regulation economics;

§ 11901

TITLE 49—TRANSPORTATION

(2) a clear abuse of arbitral authority or discretion occurred;
(3) the decision directly contravenes statutory authority; or
(4) the award limitation under subsection (g)
was violated.
(Added Pub. L. 114–110, § 13(a), Dec. 18, 2015, 129
Stat. 2235.)
REFERENCES IN TEXT
The date of the enactment of the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015, referred to in
subsec. (a), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 114–110,
which was approved Dec. 18, 2015.

CHAPTER 119—CIVIL AND CRIMINAL
PENALTIES
Sec.

11901.
11902.
11903.
11904.
11905.
11906.
11907.
11908.

General civil penalties.
Interference with railroad car supply.
Record keeping and reporting violations.
Unlawful disclosure of information.
Disobedience to subpoenas.
General criminal penalty when specific penalty not provided.
Punishment of corporation for violations
committed by certain individuals.
Relation to other Federal criminal penalties.

§ 11901. General civil penalties
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a rail carrier providing transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Board under this
part, an officer or agent of that rail carrier, or
a receiver, trustee, lessee, or agent of one of
them, knowingly violating this part or an order
of the Board under this part is liable to the
United States Government for a civil penalty of
not more than $5,000 for each violation. Liability under this subsection is incurred for each
distinct violation. A separate violation occurs
for each day the violation continues.
(b) A rail carrier providing transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Board under this
part, or a receiver or trustee of that rail carrier,
violating a regulation or order of the Board
under section 11124(a)(2) or (b) of this title is liable to the United States Government for a civil
penalty of $500 for each violation and for $25 for
each day the violation continues.
(c) A person knowingly authorizing, consenting to, or permitting a violation of sections
10901 through 10906 of this title or of a requirement or a regulation under any of those sections, is liable to the United States Government
for a civil penalty of not more than $5,000.
(d) A rail carrier, receiver, or operating trustee violating an order or direction of the Board
under section 11123 or 11124(a)(1) of this title is
liable to the United States Government for a
civil penalty of at least $100 but not more than
$500 for each violation and for $50 for each day
the violation continues.
(e)(1) A person required under subchapter III of
chapter 111 of this title to make, prepare, preserve, or submit to the Board a record concerning transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Board under this part that does not
make, prepare, preserve, or submit that record
as required under that subchapter, is liable to
the United States Government for a civil penalty of $500 for each violation.

Page 404

(2) A rail carrier providing transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Board under this
part, and a lessor, receiver, or trustee of that
rail carrier, violating section 11144(b)(1) of this
title, is liable to the United States Government
for a civil penalty of $100 for each violation.
(3) A rail carrier providing transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Board under this
part, a lessor, receiver, or trustee of that rail
carrier, a person furnishing cars, and an officer,
agent, or employee of one of them, required to
make a report to the Board or answer a question
that does not make the report or does not specifically, completely, and truthfully answer the
question, is liable to the United States Government for a civil penalty of $100 for each violation.
(4) A separate violation occurs for each day a
violation under this subsection continues.
(f) Trial in a civil action under subsections (a)
through (e) of this section is in the judicial district in which the rail carrier has its principal
operating office or in a district through which
the railroad of the rail carrier runs.
(Added Pub. L. 104–88, title I, § 102(a), Dec. 29,
1995, 109 Stat. 849.)
PRIOR PROVISIONS
A prior section 11901, Pub. L. 95–473, Oct. 17, 1978, 92
Stat. 1455; Pub. L. 96–454, § 8(a), Oct. 15, 1980, 94 Stat.
2019; Pub. L. 96–510, title III, § 306(c), Dec. 11, 1980, 94
Stat. 2810; Pub. L. 97–261, § 23, Sept. 20, 1982, 96 Stat.
1124; Pub. L. 98–554, title II, §§ 226(c)(6), 227(a)(1), Oct. 30,
1984, 98 Stat. 2852; Pub. L. 103–180, §§ 6(b), 7(c), Dec. 3,
1993, 107 Stat. 2051, 2052, related to general civil penalties, prior to the general amendment of this subtitle
by Pub. L. 104–88, § 102(a). See sections 11901, 14901, and
16101 of this title.
EFFECTIVE DATE
Section effective Jan. 1, 1996, except as otherwise provided in Pub. L. 104–88, see section 2 of Pub. L. 104–88,
set out as a note under section 1301 of this title.

§ 11902. Interference with railroad car supply
(a) A person that offers or gives anything of
value to another person acting for or employed
by a rail carrier providing transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Board under this
part intending to influence an action of that
other person related to supply, distribution, or
movement of cars, vehicles, or vessels used in
the transportation of property, or because of the
action of that other person, shall be fined not
more than $1,000, imprisoned for not more than
2 years, or both.
(b) A person acting for or employed by a rail
carrier providing transportation subject to the
jurisdiction of the Board under this part that solicits, accepts, or receives anything of value—
(1) intending to be influenced by it in an action of that person related to supply, distribution, or movement of cars, vehicles, or vessels
used in the transportation of property; or
(2) because of the action of that person,
shall be fined not more than $1,000, imprisoned
for not more than 2 years, or both.
(Added Pub. L. 104–88, title I, § 102(a), Dec. 29,
1995, 109 Stat. 850.)