The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up the decade-long whistleblower battle brought by a former BNSF Railway conductor who claimed he was fired for performing a brake test, letting stand a Ninth Circuit ruling that the railroad proved he was terminated for policy violations, not retaliation.
High Court Denies Certiorari in Long-Running FRSA Clash
In its order list, the justices rejected an October petition for certiorari filed by the estate of Curtis Rookaird, who died in 2021. His estate argued that lower courts had misapplied the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) when they ruled that BNSF was not liable for retaliation.
The Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, ruled in May that although Rookaird’s brake test was a protected activity under the FRSA—borrowing its retaliation standard from the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century—BNSF had convincingly shown that Rookaird would have been fired regardless, citing inefficiency, insubordination, and policy violations.
