Dealing with the railroad

[GMCM]

Does anyone have any experience/tips with attempting to terminate a Union Pacific Lease Agreement which has been assigned to a third party (i.e. Strong Capital or Railway Management Company)?

 

[oldestguy]

Any dealing with a railroad is entirely different than usual business dealings. They have habits and restrictive rules, etc, so it takes time and probably experienced folks that regularly work with railroads.

 

[cvg]

mostly lots of time, usually measured in years

 

[dhengr]

GMCM:
It seems to me that you should be looking for a good attorney, familiar with dealing with railroads, maybe with a little help from a civil expert, depending upon what the lease actually covers.

 

[3DDave]

I glanced at this:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...kLjlAhUNi6wKHTsRCCMQFjAAegQIABAB&url=https://

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOUR...-00168-1.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1V5VDQ7BmlkCYvLLwheJBd

(searched Google for "terminate a Union Pacific Lease Agreement" and it came up.)

If that's how UP pursues cases it looks like you'll need a very good attorney with direct experience dealing with that particular railroad.

In the above case, UP won. (to correct - UP won a motion against dismissing their suit; I have no idea if they prevailed before a jury.)

Best of luck.

 

[fel3]

3DDave…

That's an interesting web for the trial court to untangle. Also interesting is that the defendant didn't think to ask about ownership status of the existing buildings on the land and the railroad didn't think to specify it. Obviously each side (if they thought about it at all) assumed the same position they took in the lawsuit without verification. I was also troubled that both parties entered into a lease without a legal description.

Fred

==========
"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill

 

[bimr]

The first thing that you need to do is to obtain and read the contract.

Many contracts contain provisions allowing the parties to terminate a contract should certain circumstances arise, for example, serious or repeated default or insolvency.
Such termination provisions will usually require notice to be given before the termination can take effect and will often allow the "defaulting" party an opportunity to correct the problem and, thereby, avoid the termination.

Have an attorney review the contract.