Csx Transportation, Inc. v. Lizzie Beatrice Easterwood

Decided April 21, 1993. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 91-790 · 507 U.S. 658 (1993) · Cited 1,080 times

Holding

Under the FRSA, federal regulations adopted by the Secretary of Transportation pre-empt Easterwood’s negligence action only insofar as it asserts that CSX’s train was traveling at an excessive speed.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp. · 331 U.S. 218 (1947)
• Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc. · 505 U.S. 504 (1992)
• Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. · 463 U.S. 85 (1983)
• Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. · 504 U.S. 374 (1992)
• Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. De La Cuesta · 458 U.S. 141 (1982)
• Maryland v. Louisiana · 451 U.S. 725 (1981)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Shanklin · 529 U.S. 344 (2000)
• Geier v. American Honda Motor Co. · 529 U.S. 861 (2000)
• Northwest, Inc. v. Ginsberg · 572 U.S. 273 (2014)
• Dan's City Used Cars, Inc. v. Pelkey · 569 U.S. 251 (2013)
• Kansas v. Garcia · 589 U.S. 191 (2020)
• Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren · 587 U.S. 761 (2019)
• Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr · 518 U.S. 470 (1996)
• Wyeth v. Levine · 555 U.S. 555 (2009)
• Freightliner Corp. v. Myrick · 514 U.S. 280 (1995)
• Chamber of Commerce of United States of America v. Whiting · 563 U.S. 582 (2011)
• Sprietsma v. Mercury Marine · 537 U.S. 51 (2002)
• El Al Israel Airlines, Ltd. v. Tsui Yuan Tseng · 525 U.S. 155 (1999)
• City of Columbus v. Ours Garage & Wrecker Service, Inc. · 536 U.S. 424 (2002)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Byron Raymond White’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1993). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).