Strict Liability versus Negligence in Indiana Harbor

In January of 1979, a railroad tank car containing the chemical acrylonitrile started leaking at a rail yard in south suburban Chicago. The chemical was manufactured by American Cyanamid Co (Cyanamid) in Louisiana. Cyanamid had leased the tank car, filled it with acrylonitrile, and delivered it to the Missouri Pacific Railroad for transport to the Chicago suburbs. The leak occurred while the car was on the property of the plaintiff, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co (IHB), a local switching line. The car was to be joined with a Conrail train for travel to a Cyanamid plant on the East Coast. Acrylonitrile is flammable, highly toxic, and possibly carcinogenic. Accordingly, an evacuation of the neighboring area was ordered when the leak was detected. The leak was eventually contained without fire or personal injury, but four thousand gallons had been discharged and the Illinois Department of Environmental Protection ordered IHB to clean up the site at a cost of just under $1 million. IHB then filed an action against Cyanamid in federal court seeking to recover the cleanup costs. The first count of the complaint alleged that Cyanamid was negligent in its maintenance of the leased tank car. The second count of the complaint alleged that Cyanamid was strictly liable for the accident, on the grounds that the shipment of acrylonitrile through an urban area was an abnormally dangerous activity. The district court granted summary judgment for IHB on the second count, holding that “Illinois law would impose strict liability for injuries resulting from the transportation of acrylonitrile in bulk through a Chicago residential area.” 1 In so holding, the court relied heavily on the factors contained in § 520 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. The court also held that IHB had not assumed the risk of Cyanamid’s abnormally dangerous activity. 2