John H LeSeur

Lawyer information

Practice Areas

Mr. LeSeur is a Partner with over 40 years of experience in administrative law, civil litigation, arbitration, and appellate work, focusing particularly on railroad transportation matters. He has been lead counsel for a wide-variety of rail shippers in numerous administrative adjudications, arbitrations, and court appeals in various matters involving rail rates, fuel surcharges, rail build-outs, rail abandonments, unreasonable rail practices, rail service issues and rail line sales. Mr. LeSeur has counseled clients on all phases of rail transportation contracts, coal supply contracts, railcar leases, railroad line sales and other commercial arrangements.

Career

John LeSeur started at Slover & Loftus LLP as a law clerk in 1977; he became an associate with the firm in 1979; and he joined the firm as a partner in 1985. Over the past forty years, Mr. LeSeur has successfully represented firm clients in matters involving railroad transportation, motor carrier transportation, coal supply, and environmental compliance. These matters have spanned all of the firm’s major practice areas.

Professional Memberships

American Bar Association (former Chairman of the Transportation Law Committee, Young Lawyers Division); Association of Transportation Law Professionals

Work Highlights

Successfully represented the complainant shippers as lead counsel in the WFA/Basin Electric rate Case, decided by the STB in 2009, where the STB awarded the complainant shippers rate relief the STB valued at $350 million and described as “the single largest reduction in rail rates ever awarded by this agency.”

Successfully served as lead counsel for a coal shipper in confidential commercial arbitration that produced an award valued at over $250 million.

Successfully served as lead counsel for the shipper party in the PSO Arbitration proceedings before an arbitration board, and in subsequent appeals in federal courts, where the shipper defeated a claim for monetary recovery under a coal transportation contract and obtained an award of appellate attorneys fees against the involved rail carrier under a precedent setting application of state contact law to shift fees in post-award proceedings in federal court.

Successfully served as lead counsel for the rail shipper in the Missouri Mining v. ICC case proceedings before the Interstate Commerce Commission (“ICC”), and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, where the ICC set the standards governing regulatory review of the construction of new common carrier rail access lines to serve rail utility generating stations.

Successfully served as lead counsel for individual shippers seeking pro-competitive conditions in the UP/SP and BN/Santa Fe Merger Cases.

Successfully served as lead counsel for a consortium of coal shippers in the Coal Dust Case where the STB in 2011 found that a rail carrier’s publication of coal dust rules constituted an unreasonable practice.

Successfully represented clients to ensure that Congress did not eliminate protections for captive rail shippers when Congress sunset the ICC, and created the STB.

Successfully served as lead counsel of a municipality in the City of Sikeston, Missouri Case where, as requested by the municipality, a railroad withdrew a request to dramatically increase rail traffic running through the municipality.

Successfully advised clients in coal supply and coal transportation contract negotiations involving billions of dollars of commerce.

Successfully advised clients on Clean Air Act compliance legal strategies for coal-fired plants.

Successfully represented state government entities in selling state-owned rail lines to private sector entities.

Successfully represented federal government entities in STB proceedings that resulted in Board orders ensuring that rail transporters would continue to transport the government’s radioactive material shipments.

Education