Holt v. Southern Railway Co.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

NEESE, District Judge.

This is basically a diversity action for damages arising under the laws of the United States for the breach of a contract of employment. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 (a), 1332(a) (1). The plaintiff and defendant-by-counterclaim Mr. Holt was at the pertinent times a yard clerk of the defendant. He was discharged from this employment, on the ground that his misconduct in the performance of those duties proximately caused a derailment of a train at Natural Tunnel, in Virginia, resulting in a loss to the defendant and plaintiff-by-counterclaim of $95,000.…