Associated Press - November 21, 2009 9:04 AM ET

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A spokeswoman for BNSF Railway Co. says a federal court has largely resolved accusations by Montana's attorney general that the company broke a grain shipping agreement with a state-backed rail line.

Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock sued the railway in state district court in Fergus County last week. The suit claims BNSF violated a 1984 agreement when it stopped making payments earlier this month to cover some grain shipping costs in central Montana.

Court documents from a 2005 U.S. District Court case over the same issue indicate BNSF's move to cancel its payments was approved by a court-approved arbitration panel in May.

BNSF spokeswoman Suann Lundsberg says another issue raised in the state's lawsuit - the construction of a grain unloading facility in Moccasin, Mont. - is still pending in the federal case.

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