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NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
DILLE ROAD RECYCLING, LLC,
Defendant-Appellee. |
No. 22-4037 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland.
No. 1:20-cv-01053—J. Philip Calabrese, District Judge.
Argued: December 6, 2023
Decided and Filed: February 26, 2024
Before: BOGGS, READLER, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.
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OPINION
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BOGGS, Circuit Judge. This case concerns a narrow parcel of land (the “Parcel”)—
roughly 600 feet by 32 feet—that runs adjacent to Norfolk Southern Railway Company’s active
rail line in Euclid, Ohio. No one disputes that Norfolk owns the Parcel. But Dille Road
Recycling, which owns the property on the other side of the Parcel, has occupied and used the
Parcel for nearly two decades. A few years ago, the parties began an out-of-court dispute over
the Parcel’s use. After negotiations stalled, the parties took the matter to federal court. Dille
sought adverse possession of the Parcel or, alternatively, a prescriptive easement. Norfolk
sought a declaration that Dille’s property claims were preempted by the Interstate Commerce
Commission Termination Act (ICCTA). The district court held that Dille’s prescriptive-easement claim was not preempted, and then granted Dille its easement. We disagree with the
district court’s threshold conclusion. Because federal law does preempt Dille’s state-law
prescriptive-easement claim, we reverse. |
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PREMIER DEALER SERVICES, INC.,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
ALLEGIANCE ADMINISTRATORS, LLC,
Defendant-Appellant. |
No. 23-3394 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Columbus.
No. 2:18-cv-00735—Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., District Judge.
Argued: February 1, 2024
Decided and Filed: February 26, 2024
Before: SUTTON, Chief Judge; CLAY and BLOOMEKATZ, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
SUTTON, Chief Judge. Premier Dealer Services competes with Allegiance
Administrators to manage car dealers’ loyalty programs, an arrangement used to service cars
after the dealer sells them. The terms and conditions of the programs appear on loyalty
certificates that dealers use to enroll buyers. When Allegiance obtained the account of a former
Premier client, it incorporated Premier’s Lifetime Powertrain Loyalty Program certificates into
its own plan. Premier sued Allegiance for using its copyrighted certificates. The district court
held that Allegiance infringed Premier’s copyright, ordered Allegiance to disgorge any profits
from using the certificates, and awarded Premier attorney’s fees. We affirm. |
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