DISCLAIMER: The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
161648P.pdf 08/10/2017 Rita Foster v. BNSF Railway Company
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-1648
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Des Moines
[PUBLISHED] [Colloton, Author, with Wollman and Murphy, Circuit Judges]
Civil case - Federal Railroad Safety Act. Claims not presented in
plaintiffs' administrative complaint to OSHA were not properly exhausted
under the Act, and the district court did not err in dismissing those
claims; with respect to the claims that were properly exhausted,
plaintiffs' first alleged protected activity in making a handwritten
statement reporting a hazardous condition at an accident site, the claim
did not state that the railroad knew about the conditions at the accident
site or that the company failed to remedy known, hazardous conditions, and
the statement did not constitute protected activity for purposes of
stating a retaliation claim under the Act; with respect to the second
alleged protected activity, giving testimony at an investigative hearing,
two of the adverse actions plaintiffs rely upon to show retaliation
occurred before the testimony was given and the testimony could not have
contributed to these earlier adverse actions; with respect to the
remaining claim, plaintiffs failed to show a connection between the
adverse action and the protected activity.