916 F.2d 1174 (7th Cir. 1990)
Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co. v.
Is the rail transportation of a hazardous chemical through a populated area an abnormally dangerous activity under Illinois law that triggers strict liability against the shipper, or is negligence the appropriate standard?
Under the Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 519–520, strict liability is imposed for abnormally dangerous activities—those that present a high degree of risk of serious harm that cannot be eliminated by the exercise of reasonable care, are not matters of common usage, may be inappropriate to the place conducted, and whose value to the community is outweighed by their dangerous attributes. When the risks of an activity can be effectively reduced through due care and the activity is a common, socially valuable one, negligence—not strict liability—is the governing standard.
No. The rail shipment of acrylonitrile through metropolitan Chicago is not an abnormally dangerous activity under Illinois law; strict liability does not apply. Any liability must be predicated on negligence.
Indiana Harbor Belt is a staple in torts courses for clarifying the boundary between strict liability for abnormally dangerous activities and negligence. It demonstrates how the § 520 factors work in practice and why the ability to reduce risk through reasonable care often defeats strict liability. The opinion also models law-and-economics reasoning about optimal deterrence and control, steering liability toward actors who can most cost-effectively prevent accidents. For practitioners and students, the case signals that hazardousness of a substance alone does not dictate strict liability; context, preventability, and common usage matter.