Carr v. Union Pacific Railroad

803 So. 2d 427, 1 La.App. 5 Cir. 909, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 3089, 2001 WL 1651134
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 26, 2001
DocketNo. 01-CA-909
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 803 So. 2d 427 (Carr v. Union Pacific Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carr v. Union Pacific Railroad, 803 So. 2d 427, 1 La.App. 5 Cir. 909, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 3089, 2001 WL 1651134 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

U CLARENCE E. McMANUS, Judge.

In this matter, we affirm a summary judgment granted in favor of Defendanb-Appellee, the Union Pacific Railroad Company, which dismissed the FELA claim of Plaintiff-Appellant, Fred A. Carr, Jr., and the claim of Third-Party Plaintiff, Allee, Allee & Allen Farms.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

The instant suit was instituted on July 19, 2000, with Carr’s Petition naming as Defendants Union Pacific, Michael F. Shepherd, and Allee & Allen and their insurer Louisiana Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company. Carr subsequently amended his petition to correctly name Allee, Allee & Allen Farms and the Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual Ins. Co. The suit arises out of a collision between a stalled trailer and a train operated by Union Pacific.

Union Pacific initially filed a general denial and a cross claim against Michael Shepherd and Allee and Louisiana Farm Bureau.

On March 29, 2001, however, Union Pacific filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, asserting that the accident that had given rise to this suit had not been caused by Union Pacific’s negligence. The motion was heard on April 30, 2001; judgment was signed on April 30, 2001, dismissing with prejudice Carr’s claims against the railroad.

On August 16, 2000, Louisiana Farm Bureau had filed an Answer and Cross Claim and Third Party Demand against Union Pacific, seeking To recover sums paid to its own insured Allee for the loss of the trailer. The judgment of April 30 also dismissed Allee’s claims.

12Plaintiff Carr and Allee timely filed motions for appeal, and they now raise the following claims.

Plaintiff Carr assigns as error:

1. The trial court erroneously granted summary judgment for the railroad when there was substantial evidence that the railroad breached its non-dele-gable duty to provide Mr. Carr a safe place to work. In granting summary judgment, the trial court completely ignored federal law establishing the non-delegable duty. In addition, in granting summary judgment, the trial court erroneously relied on state law to dismiss an action which is governed by federal law;
2. The trial court erroneously granted summary judgment where there was substantial evidence that actions taken by the railroad negligently caused or contributed to Mr. Carr’s injury. The trial court erroneously ignored substantial evidence that the railroad’s own actions created the dangerous condition at the crossing, that the railroad negligently delayed notifying its train of the blocked crossing, and that the railroad’s engineer ignored emergency warnings given to him.

Defendanb-Appellant Allee alleges the following errors:

1. The trial judge erred in finding that there were no material facts in dispute and that as a matter of law, Union Pacific Railroad Company was en[430]*430titled to summary judgment on the claims based upon the negligence and fault of Union Pacific in failing to comply with the duties implied upon it by the Federal Employers Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. § 51, et seq.
2. The trial, judge erred in finding that there were no material facts in dispute and that as a matter of law, Union Pacific was entitled to summary judgment on the claims based upon faulty and defective design and construction and maintenance, and lack of warnings, and remedial measures, after daily inspections, which are recognized causes of action under Louisiana law for either a railroad maintaining a public crossing or for a railroad voluntarily constructing, maintaining and daily inspecting a private railroad crossing;
3. The trial judge erred in finding that there were no material facts in dispute and that as a matter of law, Union Pacific was entitled to summary judgment on the claims based upon the failure of Union Pacific to adequately respond and stop the train prior to the intersection as required by Louisiana law for all trains having notice of a blocked intersection in time to stop and avoid a collision;
4. The trial judge erred in finding that there were no material facts in dispute and that as a matter of law, Union Pacific was entitled to Summary Judgment on the claims based upon negligence and fault of its engineer, Darryl R. Lawrence, in failing to see and heed the hand signal warnings of the disinterested witness, Eddie J. Hymel, over two miles before the blocked intersection which warnings were made in accordance with Union Pacific procedures and which should have been heeded, again according to Union Pacific procedures for the train to be brought to a stop well before the blocked intersection.

FACTS

The instant matter arises out of a collision between a train operated by Defendant-Appellee Union Pacific and a trailer that was stuck, at the time of the lacollision, on a railroad crossing, the Vegas crossing, located on property owned by Defendant Allee, Allee & Allen Farms. Plaintiff Carr was the conductor on the train when the accident occurred; as a result of the collision he suffered a knee injury. The trailer was wrecked beyond repair.

On the afternoon of August 23, 1999, the trailer was being hauled by Allee’s employee, Michael F. Shepherd. By way of deposition and a recorded statement, Shepherd testified to the following facts.

Shepherd testified that he had been working at Allee for some time as a machine operator/truck driver. On the day of the accident, Shepherd had been hauling a lowboy (described elsewhere in the record as a gooseneck lowboy) to move a dozer from one area of Allee’s property to another. He stated that Allee had owned the lowboy in question for approximately three years. Shepherd stated that he pulled the lowboy two to three times a week, mainly to move heavy equipment such as the doz-er, and that he sometimes towed the lowboy over railroad crossings four times a day. He stated that he had taken the lowboy over the Vegas crossing three or four times before the accident, and that he had never had a problem. He remembered having negotiated the Vegas crossing last “maybe” two weeks before the accident.

Shepherd described the lowboy’s stalling as follows. As he approached the crossing in question, he had been hauling the trailer down a dirt road that traversed the crossing. He stated that as he tried to go over [431]*431the train tracks, and after he had pulled the trailer halfway across the tracks, the trailer got “hung up.” He stated that even after he felt the trailer “scraping” as he crossed the tracks he continued to try to make it over. After Shepherd was stuck on the tracks, he hailed a passerby, Money Shepherd, and asked Money to call his boss. Shepherd detailed various efforts to move the trailer off of the tracks, in which he was assisted by Ronnie Allen and Stacy Allee, and none of which was successful. He stated that a St. James Parish Sheriffs Deputy stopped while the group was engaged in trying to move the trailer; this officer, Gufielle Keller, radioed the Sheriffs Office to alert |4them of the problem. Shepherd himself did not call the Sheriffs Office, or any emergency number, nor did Allen or Allee.

Shepherd testified that the oncoming train had ultimately collided with the stalled trailer, pushing the trailer into the ditch alongside the tracks. The train stopped not quite five hundred feet from the impact.

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860 So. 2d 248 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
803 So. 2d 427, 1 La.App. 5 Cir. 909, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 3089, 2001 WL 1651134, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carr-v-union-pacific-railroad-lactapp-2001.