A railroad company proposed the closure of several private railroad crossings and closed one of them.  The plaintiffs are owners or lessees of farmland adjacent to the crossings. The plaintiffs contended that their access to their farm property would be restricted if the railroad were allowed to close the crossings. In 2008, the Louisiana legislature passed a statute, La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 48:394, (the Act) prohibiting railroads from closing or removing any private crossing unless the railroad gave 180 days’ notice and convinced the Louisiana Public Safety Commission (LPSC) that the action was necessary for safety and in the best interest of the public. In 2010, the court ruled that federal law prohibited state regulation of private crossings that unreasonably burdened or interfered with rail transportation. The Louisiana legislature amended the Act to state that a railroad company was prohibited from closing a private crossing unless the railroad company could convince the LPSC that the specific crossing unreasonably burdened or substantially interfered with rail transportation. In 2007, the plaintiffs sued the railroad company in state court seeking a declaration of their rights to use the crossings and seeking injunctions preventing the railroad company from closing or removing the crossings. After removal to federal court, the railroad company sought a declaration that it was entitled to remove the crossings. After the Act’s passage, the railroad company also alleged that the Act would effect an unconstitutional taking of the railroad company’s property without a public purpose in violation of Article I, Section 4 of the Louisiana Constitution. The court certified the question to the Louisiana Supreme Court, finding that the state’s highest court should consider the question of the relationship between a state statute and the state constitution in the first instance.   Faulk v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., No. 13-30669, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 14286 (5th Cir. Jul. 25, 2014).