Courts in Missouri — where St. Louis has been ranked as the top “judicial hellhole” — do not have personal jurisdiction over a railroad that conducts only 2% of its business in the state, says the Missouri Supreme Court in a unanimous ruling in a personal injury case.

Russell Parker, an Indiana resident, had filed a personal injury lawsuit under the Federal Employer’s Liability Act against Norfolk, Virginia-based Norfolk Southern Railway Co., according to Tuesday’s ruling in State ex rel. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. The Honorable Colleen Dolan.

Mr. Parker charged cumulative trauma injury sustained during his years of employment with Norfolk in Indiana, according to the ruling by the Jefferson City-based Missouri Supreme Court.

Norfolk sought a ruling that it did not have personal jurisdiction in the state, which the trial court denied. The Missouri high court issued a preliminary “writ of prohibition” in the matter, which is an order to a lower court that it does not have proper jurisdiction to hear a matter before it.

 “Parker never worked for Norfolk in Missouri. He does not allege any negligence or other conduct or omission by Norfolk in Missouri caused the injury, nor does his petition set out any basis for specific or general personal jurisdiction over Norfolk other than his statement that Norfolk conducts substantial business and owns property in Missouri,” said the ruling. 

“While the record shows that Norfolk’s train tracks run through Missouri, it also shows that those tracks span at least 22 states, and that the portion of Norfolk’s business conducted in Missouri only has about 2% off its nationwide business activity,” said the ruling, in making permanent the writ of prohibition.

St. Louis was ranked the top judicial “hellhole” by the American Tort Reform Association in December.

“The City of St. Louis is a magnet for product liability lawsuits and consumer class actions,” according to the Washington-based association’s executive summary of its Judicial Hellholes 2016-2017 report.