Judge Tosses Metrolink Engineers' Anti-Camera Suit

A lawsuit filed by Metrolink engineers, objecting to being videotaped while they work, was dismissed Thursday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Luis Lavin.

Cameras were installed in locomotives and cab cars in front of trains pushed by a locomotive in the wake of the September 2008 Chatsworth train disaster that killed 25 people and injured more than 100 when a Metrolink train collided with a freight train on the same track while the engineer was texting on a cellphone.

The Metrolink engineer, a contract employee, ran a red light, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The board is pushing for all passenger rail systems to install video systems similar to Metrolink’s.

“The Court found that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen’s due process claims were without merit, that no reasonable trier of fact could find in BLET's favor and impose liability for invasion of privacy, and that there is no state preemption of Metrolink's camera policy,” according to a Metrolink statement.

“We’re pleased that the state courts have joined the Federal courts in allowing our pioneering camera program to move forward," said Metrolink Board Chairman Richard Katz in the statement. "We have great respect for our engineers and crews and will work with them on their privacy concerns. But the safety of our passenger and those crews will always come first."

The case involving the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen argued installing cameras to monitor engineers while at work on commuter rail systems infringed on their privacy rights. The union argued that the camera and audio policy violates due process, violates the engineers' right to privacy and is preempted by state law.

The engineers and trainmen sued Metrolink in state and federal court, alleging the rail system went too far without negotiating with the union about installing cameras.

Metrolink engineers have a collective bargaining agreement with Amtrak, which supplied engineers to Metrolink.

Their attorneys said the camera issue could have been raised last year during labor negotiations engineers signed with Amtrak.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Jeff Dingwall said cameras were installed without any warning to the engineers.

In court papers, Metrolink attorneys said engineers failed to show how the cameras invaded their privacy even though they use bottles to urinate in locomotives that do not have toilets.

Cab cars have toilets.

“Plaintiffs cannot seriously argue that urinating into a bottle while operating a multimillion-dollar piece of machinery during one’s work shift is a private act protectable under any legal theory,” Metrolink’s court papers state.

Last July, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson threw the lawsuit out of federal court. The union is appealing that ruling.

In October 2009, Metrolink was the first railroad in the nation, passenger or freight, to install inward-facing cameras, according to company officials.

CBS Local Media and wire services contributed to this report.