In the 

United States Court of Appeals 

For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ 

No. 19-3100 

SOO LINE RAILROAD COMPANY d/b/a CANADIAN PACIFIC, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

v.

CONSOLIDATED RAIL CORPORATION, et al., 

Defendants-Appellees. 

____________________ 

Appeal from the United States District Court for the 

Northern District of Indiana, Hammond Division. 

No. 2:17-cv-106 — Andrew P. Rodovich, Magistrate Judge. 

____________________ 

ARGUED JUNE 3, 2020 — DECIDED JULY 15, 2020 

____________________ 

Before SYKES, Chief Judge, and BAUER and ST. EVE, Circuit 

Judges. 

ST. EVE, Circuit Judge. Soo Line Railroad Company, which 

we refer to by its business name, Canadian Pacific, sought to 

bring state-law claims under the diversity jurisdiction of the 

district court. Its suit centered on a trackage rights agreement—a contract governing one railroad’s use of another’s 

track—that the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company had 

signed with its majority shareholders at a price that Canadian 
2 No. 19-3100 

Pacific, the minority shareholder, alleged was detrimental to 

Indiana Harbor’s profitability. 

Canadian Pacific, though, had a problem. The Surface 

Transportation Board (STB) has exclusive authority to regulate trackage rights agreements, or to exempt such agreements from its approval process, and it had exempted Indiana 

Harbor’s agreement. The defendants argued that, by effect of 

this exemption authority, two statutes—49 U.S.C. §§ 10501(b) 

and 11321(a)—independently preempted Canadian Pacific’s 

claims. The district court agreed with both arguments, but in 

this appeal we focus on only one. The court concluded that 

§ 11321(a) preempted the claims and noted that Canadian Pacific had made no argument otherwise. Because we agree that 

Canadian Pacific failed to contest this basis for dismissal, we 

affirm the judgment on grounds of waiver. 

I 

Although the ownership structure of Indiana Harbor is 

somewhat complex, we can simply summarize it. Plaintiff Canadian Pacific owns 49%; defendant Consolidated Rail Corporation owns 51%. Two other defendants, Norfolk Southern 

Corporation and CSX Corporation, indirectly own Consolidated Rail. Norfolk Southern and CSX each control two directors on Indiana Harbor’s seven-person board and, thus, have 

a majority over Canadian Pacific’s three directors. 

Indiana Harbor operates as a switch carrier on tracks 

owned by Consolidated Rail and its parent companies near 

Chicago. These railroads managed their arrangement with a 

99-year contract executed in 1906 between Indiana Harbor 

and the previous owners of the tracks. Under the 1906 agreement, Indiana Harbor would pay the track owners annual 
No. 19-3100 3 

rent of approximately $150,000 for the use of the tracks, some 

of which it would supervise and maintain. The track owners 

would then pay Indiana Harbor a share of the operating and 

maintenance expenses for their proportional use of the supervised tracks. Near the turn of the century, Consolidated Rail 

was paying over $2 million a year in expenses. 

Things changed in 1999. According to Canadian Pacific’s 

amended complaint, which we accept as true in the posture 

of this appeal, Consolidated Rail stopped paying expenses 

and invoicing Indiana Harbor for rent that year. This alleged 

quid pro quo cessation lasted through the remainder of the 

contract term, which ended in 2005, and into the extended negotiations over a new trackage rights agreement. 

Canadian Pacific alleges that during these negotiations, 

Consolidated Rail and its parent companies used their power 

as majority shareholders to force Indiana Harbor into an atrocious deal. Indiana Harbor’s board had obtained an independent appraisal estimating that a fair annual rent for the 

tracks was $1.3 million and unanimously resolved to offer that 

much, but they were rebuffed. Instead, Consolidated Rail 

threatened to involve the STB; Norfolk Southern demanded 

the rent that had gone unpaid since 1999; and CSX even 

warned it would evict Indiana Harbor if it did not agree to a 

higher price. Under this pressure, Indiana Harbor’s board 

split 4-3 along company lines to approve a new agreement at 

a total annual rent of $5 million and with terms that Canadian 

Pacific insists transferred ownership of Indiana Harbor’s assets to the track owners. 

Indiana Harbor, Consolidated Rail, Norfolk Southern, and 

CSX then notified the STB of their agreement. Under federal 

law, the STB must approve a trackage rights agreement before 
4 No. 19-3100 

it can be carried out. 49 U.S.C. § 11323(a)(6). Regulations, 

however, exempt certain transactions from this approval process, including trackage rights agreements that are “(i) based 

on written agreements, and (ii) not filed or sought in responsive applications in rail consolidation proceedings.” 49 C.F.R. 

§ 1180.2(d)(7); see also 49 U.S.C. § 10502(a) (authorizing exemptions). The railroads all applied for this exemption, and 

the STB granted it over Canadian Pacific’s request to stay the 

proceedings. Indiana Harbor Belt R.R.—Trackage Right—Consolidated Rail Corp., CSX Transp., Inc., & Norfolk S. Ry., No. FD 

36099, 2017 WL 992358 (Mar. 14, 2017). 

Canadian Pacific predicated its stay motion on the litigation in this case. It had filed a verified complaint earlier that 

month alleging that Consolidated Rail, Norfolk Southern, and 

CSX had breached fiduciary duties they owed to it and Indiana Harbor under Indiana law. As remedies, Canadian Pacific 

sought compensatory and punitive damages based on the alleged overpayment for the trackage rights, voidance of the 

new agreement, an injunction requiring Indiana Harbor’s 

board to approve only the $1.3 million price, and an order for 

Consolidated Rail to pay the operating and maintenance expenses it owed since 1999. 

Consolidated Rail moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim. It argued that 49 U.S.C. § 10501(b) and 49 

U.S.C. § 11321(a) independently preempted Canadian Pacific’s claims. 

Section 10501(b) gives the STB exclusive jurisdiction over 

“transportation by rail carriers, and the remedies provided in 

this part with respect to rates.” Such remedies “with respect 

to regulation of rail transportation ... preempt the remedies 

provided under Federal or State law.” 49 U.S.C. § 10501(b). 
No. 19-3100 5 

Canadian Pacific was seeking remedies with respect to the 

rates charged for trackage rights, Consolidated Rail argued, 

so any state-law remedies were preempted. 

Section 11321(a) provides that “[a] rail carrier, corporation, or person participating in ... [an] exempted transaction 

is exempt from the antitrust laws and all other law, including 

State and municipal law, as necessary to let that rail carrier, 

corporation, or person carry out the transaction.” 49 U.S.C. 

§ 11321(a). Because the STB exempted the trackage rights 

agreement, Consolidated Rail asserted that it was exempt 

from Indiana tort law to the extent the claims sought to prevent the terms of the transaction, including price, from being 

carried out. 

Although neither preemption argument extended to the 

alleged failure to pay expenses in breach of the 1906 agreement, Consolidated Rail contended that claim failed for a different reason. It owed expenses only for its proportional use 

of the tracks, but the complaint never alleged that it had used 

the tracks after 1999. 

Before the district court ruled on the first set of motions to 

dismiss, Canadian Pacific amended its complaint. It added 

more defendants, including the whole family of subsidiaries 

and holding companies through which Norfolk Southern and 

CSX owned Consolidated Rail, as well as the four directors 

who had approved the agreement. Regarding the expenses, 

though, it still failed to allege that Consolidated Rail had used 

the track after 1999. 

Consolidated Rail, Norfolk Southern, and CSX jointly 

moved to dismiss, adopting Consolidated Rail’s preemption 

arguments. Although it thoroughly contested the defendants’ 
6 No. 19-3100 

reading of § 10501(b), Canadian Pacific did not respond to the 

§ 11321(a) argument other than to assert, without elaboration, 

that the section did not preempt its claims. 

A magistrate judge, presiding by consent, agreed with 

both of the defendants’ preemption arguments. Regarding 

§ 11321(a), the judge straightforwardly reasoned that the 

claims would prevent the trackage rights agreement from being carried out as exempted. Canadian Pacific had “not presented any argument to the contrary.” 

The court then requested supplemental briefing on the expenses issue. During the period of supplemental briefing Canadian Pacific still did not try to amend its complaint to add 

the necessary facts that Consolidated Rail had consistently 

identified as missing. Without an allegation that Consolidated 

Rail had used the track after 1999, the district court concluded 

that Canadian Pacific failed to state a plausible breach of contract claim. Finally, the remaining defendants asked the court 

to dismiss them alongside the others. The court agreed and 

entered final judgment. 

II 

On appeal, Canadian Pacific challenges the breadth of the 

district court’s preemption analysis, which it asserts deprives 

minority shareholders of any remedy for corporate malfeasance even tangentially related to trackage rights. The defendants, for their part, center their defense of the judgment on 

§ 11321(a) and, specifically, Canadian Pacific’s failure to make 

any argument relating to that section in the district court. 

They assert that this omission amounts to waiver. We agree. 

Generally, “[f]ailing to bring an argument to the district 

court means that you waive that argument on appeal.” 
No. 19-3100 7 

Wheeler v. Hronopoulos, 891 F.3d 1072, 1073 (7th Cir. 2018). A 

party must present the specific argument urged on appeal 

and cannot rest on having addressed the same general issue. 

Puffer v. Allstate Ins. Co., 675 F.3d 709, 718 (7th Cir. 2012); 

Fednav Intʹl Ltd. v. Contʹl Ins. Co., 624 F.3d 834, 841 (7th Cir. 

2010). Although the argument need not be present in all its 

particulars and a party may elaborate in its appellate briefs, 

Lawson v. Sun Microsystems, Inc., 791 F.3d 754, 761 (7th Cir. 

2015), a conclusory argument that amounts to little more than 

an assertion does not preserve a question for our review. Betco 

Corp. v. Peacock, 876 F.3d 306, 309 (7th Cir. 2017). 

In response to the joint motion to dismiss, Canadian Pacific made only two references to § 11321(a). It noted that the 

statute’s preemptive scope was “far from unlimited” before 

transitioning into arguments about the meaning of the word 

“regulation” in § 10501(b), and it asserted that the defendants’ 

arguments under both § 10501(b) and § 11321(a) were inconsistent with their representations before the STB. It did not 

support any of its arguments with even a single legal authority purporting to interpret § 11321(a), let alone those authorities pressed on appeal. With so little, we understand why the 

district court concluded that Canadian Pacific had not truly 

contested preemption under § 11321(a). 

Canadian Pacific does not pretend that it made its arguments in the district court or try to classify its appellate briefs 

as an elaboration. Rather, it accepts that it waived its 

§ 11321(a) arguments—as well as some § 10501(b) arguments 

more nuanced than those presented to the district court—and 

asks us to overlook that waiver. 

We have the discretion to take up these issues in the first 

instance, see Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 121 (1976), “but to 
8 No. 19-3100 

say that an appellate court may address an issue that was forfeited in the district court is not to say that it must.” Builders 

NAB LLC v. FDIC, 922 F.3d 775, 778 (7th Cir. 2019). Canadian 

Pacific offers us no persuasive reason to address its new arguments. It does not even explain why it so poorly developed its 

theories in the district court and asserts only that we have 

been more willing to overlook waiver when the new argument on appeal raises a pure question of law or statutory interpretation. See, e.g., Hively v. Ivy Tech Cmty. Coll. of Ind., 853 

F.3d 339, 351 (7th Cir. 2017) (en banc); Amcast Indus. Corp. v. 

Detrex Corp., 2 F.3d 746, 749–50 (7th Cir. 1993). 

A question of law is not an express ticket to the court of 

appeals that permits passing by the district court. Although 

we are more conducive to forgiving waiver of legal issues, we 

still do so only “sparingly” and in “rare instance[s].” In re Sw. 

Airlines Voucher Litig., 799 F.3d 701, 714 (7th Cir. 2015). The 

posture of this appeal—from dismissal under Federal Rule of 

Civil Procedure 12(b)(6)—means that nearly all arguments 

that can be put before us are “abstract” questions of law. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 674 (2009). Nevertheless, we routinely decline to consider new arguments on appeal from dismissals at the pleadings stage. E.g., Lee v. Ne. Ill. Regʹl Commuter R.R., 912 F.3d 1049, 1053–54 (7th Cir. 2019); G & S Holdings LLC v. Contʹl Cas. Co., 697 F.3d 534, 538 (7th Cir. 2012); 

Cty. of McHenry v. Ins. Co. of the West, 438 F.3d 813, 817–20 (7th 

Cir. 2006); Kirksey v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 168 F.3d 1039, 

1041–42 (7th Cir. 1999). We see nothing about this dismissal to 

make it any more worthy of consideration than any other. Indeed, it may well be less deserving. Canadian Pacific is a sophisticated party, represented by able counsel, and knew it 

needed to raise all arguments it had against the motion to 
No. 19-3100 9 

dismiss, yet it failed to do so without explanation. See Cty. of 

McHenry, 438 F.3d at 820. 

Litigants are obligated to present to the district court both 

factual and legal arguments in support of their positions. Canadian Pacific decided how to litigate its case, offered the district court nothing at all on an entire theory of the defendants’ 

case, and predictably lost. That it lost as matter of law, not 

fact, does not alone incline us to revisit that outcome. 

Canadian Pacific’s waiver, though, does not resolve the 

entire appeal. The defendants did not argue in the district 

court that § 11321(a) exempted them from Canadian Pacific’s 

claims for damages relating to the operating and maintenance 

expenses under the 1906 agreement. (They raise a new argument along these lines on appeal, but waiver cuts both ways 

and we say no more on that theory.) The question remains, 

then, whether the complaint stated a claim based on these expenses.

We review de novo the dismissal of a complaint for failure 

to state a claim. See Div. Six Sports, Inc. v. Finish Line, Inc., 928 

F.3d 631, 635 (7th Cir. 2019). To survive a motion to dismiss, a 

complaint must contain “sufficient factual matter, accepted as 

true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” 

Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 

550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). 

Canadian Pacific argues that the district court erred by addressing its claim as a breach of contract instead of a breach 

of fiduciary duty. Whatever label we use, though, Canadian 

Pacific has failed to state a claim. Even as Canadian Pacific recasts its allegations on appeal, it insists only (1) Consolidated 

Rail had an obligation to pay consistent with the terms of the 
10 No. 19-3100 

1906 agreement, (2) Consolidated Rail stopped paying in 

1999, and (3) Canadian Pacific is “entitled to recover damages.” That is a fair summary of the relevant parts of the complaint and it also easily demonstrates the complaint’s failings. 

The third statement is a bare legal conclusion that we need not 

credit and the former two are textbook examples of facts 

“’merely consistent with’ a defendant’s liability” that do not 

elevate the claim to a level of plausibility. Id.; Taha v. Intʹl Bhd. 

of Teamsters, Local 781, 947 F.3d 464, 471 (7th Cir. 2020). Under 

the terms of the 1906 agreement, Consolidated Rail was obligated to pay expenses only if it used the tracks (or allowed 

others to use the tracks). If it stopped using the tracks in 1999, 

as it represented to the STB, then it could stop paying without 

breaching a single fiduciary or contractual duty. Despite having ample opportunity to do so, Canadian Pacific never alleged that Consolidated Rail used the tracks or allowed others 

to use them after 1999, so it did not state a plausible claim 

based on the failure to pay expenses after that date. 

AFFIRMED