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Four days after their similar lawsuit was dismissed in a Baltimore federal court, three Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers members Sept. 11 filed suit in U.S. Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland — where BLE's headquarters is located — seeking to block a vote count regarding the proposed BLE-United Transportation Union merger.

Although U.S. District Judge Frederic Smalkin ruled that Baltimore wasn't the proper location to hear the first case, U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich plans to hear the new suit Sept. 17.

Aldrich asked union officials to voluntarily delay a vote-count announcement until after the morning hearing and her subsequent ruling.

Union officials had planned to announce a vote count Sept. 15; BLE and UTU members must return merger ballots by noon Sept. 14. But officials plan to comply with Aldrich's request and announce the vote count sometime Sept. 17.