April 23, 2024
A Washington tribe said Monday that BNSF Railway Co. raked in $500 million for shipping crude oil across its reservation for nearly a decade, calling the railroad's calculation that it should pay less than $175,000 for the illegal trespass an affront to the tribe's sovereign and treaty rights.
April 01, 2024
BNSF Railway Co. has asserted a Washington tribe is not entitled to $1.3 billion for the shipping of crude oil across its reservation for nearly a decade, arguing the tribe wants to strip railroad profits from a 1,500-mile route when the illegal trespassing occurred across an easement less than a mile long.
July 18, 2023
BNSF Railway Co. will have to hash out damages due to a Washington-based Native American tribe in court, a Washington federal judge ruled, rejecting the railway's bid to allow an arbitrator to determine the money it owes to the tribe for shipping crude oil across reservation land for more than eight years.
June 05, 2023
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community says BNSF Railway Co. is attempting to force the tribe into arbitration based on a "plainly inapplicable arbitration clause," urging a Washington federal judge to reject the rail company's request that an arbitrator determine how much compensation BNSF owes to the tribe for shipping crude oil across reservation land for more than eight years.
May 15, 2023
BNSF Railway Co. told a Washington federal judge an arbitrator should determine how much compensation it owes to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community for running excess train cars across reservation lands for nearly nine years, after the tribe did not respond to its $21.7 million offer.
March 27, 2023
BNSF Railway Company "willfully, consciously and knowingly" trespassed when it violated its easement agreement with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community by shipping crude oil across reservation land for more than eight years, a Washington federal judge ruled Monday.
March 20, 2023
A Washington tribe's attorney on Monday gave a peek into its internal deliberations with BNSF Railway Company over how many of its trains could travel over its tribal land, testifying that BNSF was trying to corner them into a deal that would leave them with less money and less control over their own land.
March 14, 2023
Testimony related to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community's treaty rights can be introduced during trial in a case alleging that BNSF Railway Co. willfully violated the tribe's easement agreement by shipping crude oil across reservation land, a Washington federal judge ruled Tuesday.
August 24, 2022
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community was not obligated to let BNSF Railway Co. breach an easement agreement that limited how many trains could cross tribal land, a Washington federal judge has ruled, rejecting the railroad's argument that the tribe's opposition to additional trains was arbitrary.
August 17, 2022
A Washington federal judge on Wednesday wondered whether tribes' history of being "railroaded" by the railroad industry should factor in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community's suit accusing BNSF Railway Co. of trespassing by sending unauthorized shipments of crude oil across reservation land in violation of a right-of-way easement.