Delgado v. Southern Pacific Transportation Co.

763 F. Supp. 1509, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6585, 1991 WL 78411
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedFebruary 1, 1991
DocketCIV 90-1225 PHX SMM
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 763 F. Supp. 1509 (Delgado v. Southern Pacific Transportation Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Delgado v. Southern Pacific Transportation Co., 763 F. Supp. 1509, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6585, 1991 WL 78411 (D. Ariz. 1991).

Opinion

ORDER

McNAMEE, District Judge.

Defendant Southern Pacific Transportation Company (“Southern Pacific”) filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on July 2, 1990. Plaintiff Alfredo Jaime Delgado (“Delgado”) filed a Response and a Cross Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on September 28, 1990. Counsel argued the motions on December 3, 1990. The central issue in the motions is whether Southern Pacific owed Delgado a duty to prevent Delgado from boarding its trains in or near Southern Pacific’s Yuma railroad yard. Delgado’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment raises the issue of whether Southern Pacific’s failure to prevent Delgado from boarding its train constituted negligence per se.

*1511 Facts

The following relevant, material facts are not in dispute:

1. On November 29, 1987, Delgado, an undocumented alien, boarded a stopped freight train at approximately 9:00 p.m. after hiding and waiting approximately one hour. Delgado boarded the train in or near Southern Pacific’s Yuma railroad yard, but does not know exactly where he boarded the train.

2. Delgado remained on the train for approximately fifteen minutes. The train travelled at approximately 25 miles per hour.

3. Delgado lost his grip and fell from the train while it was near a Union 76 plant, and was injured. Delgado lost one foot and part of his other foot as a result of the fall.

4. Delgado had no ticket to board the freight train.

5. Delgado cannot identify the place where he boarded the train or the car he boarded.

6. Delgado concealed himself to avoid being discovered while waiting for and boarding the train. No one witnessed Delgado boarding the train.

7. Delgado alleges that Southern Pacific removed approximately 103,000 people from its premises in 1984, and that 47,482 of those people were removed from Southern Pacific’s premises in Arizona and New Mexico. Delgado also alleges that Southern Pacific removed 8,073 people from the Yuma yard in 1984. Southern Pacific does not admit to the truth or reliability of Delgado’s alleged figures. The actual numbers are immaterial to the disposition of this matter. The pertinent fact is that Southern Pacific removes significant numbers of trespassers from its premises nationwide and in Arizona.

8. People often board and “hitch a ride” on Southern Pacific’s trains in and near the Yuma yard.

9. The Yuma yard is approximately five miles long. The Yuma yard encompasses all of Southern Pacific’s land in the area.

10. Southern Pacific trains slow and stop at sidings throughout its line from Juarez, Mexico to Niland, California to allow other trains to pass. Trespassers generally board trains while they are stopped or moving slowly.

11. Undocumented aliens board Southern Pacific’s trains at numerous sidings, including those in and near the Yuma yard. Southern Pacific arrests trespassers all along its main line. Delgado alleges that Southern Pacific agents arrested approximately 5,400 undocumented aliens along its main line in 1987. As noted supra, Southern Pacific disputes this allegation, and the Court views the actual number as immaterial.

Discussion

The parties do not dispute that Delgado was a trespasser on Southern Pacific’s train. The only issue involved is whether Southern Pacific owed Delgado a duty to prevent him from boarding Southern Pacific’s train. This issue is controlled by Arizona law. See Torres v. Southern Pacific Transp. Co., 584 F.2d 900 (9th Cir.1978).

A. A Railroad’s Duty Toward Trespassers

With regard to a person’s duties toward trespassers, Arizona follows the general rule set forth in Restatement (Second) of Torts § 333, which provides:

Except as stated in §§ 334-339, a possessor of land is not liable to trespassers for physical harm caused by his failure to exercise reasonable care
(a) to put the land in a condition reasonably safe for their reception, or
(b) to carry on his activities so as not to endanger them.

The special note to section 333 states, in pertinent part: “these rules in effect recognize the possessor as privileged to ignore the actual probability that others will trespass upon his land, and that their safety will depend upon ... the manner in which the possessor carries on his activities.”

If Southern Pacific owed any duty to Delgado, that duty would come from one of *1512 the exceptions contained in sections 334-337.

1. Liability Under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 334

Section 334 provides:

A possessor of land who knows, or from facts within his knowledge should know, that trespassers constantly intrude upon a limited area thereof, is subject to liability for bodily harm there caused to them by his failure to carry on an activity involving a risk of death or serious bodily harm with reasonable care for their safety.

Comment d to section 334 states:

In order that the possessor of land may be subject to liability under the rule stated in this Section, it is necessary that he know, or from facts within his knowledge should know, that persons constantly and persistently intrude upon some particular place within the land. It is not enough that he know or have reason to know that persons persistently roam at large over his land.

In Barry v. Southern Pacific Company, 64 Ariz. 116, 166 P.2d 825 (1946), the plaintiff was injured when a tank car being pushed down a railroad track by an engine passed over him. The plaintiff was lying on the track, apparently asleep. The plaintiff asserted that members of the public often crossed over the railroad’s tracks at that particular place, and that section 334 applied in that case. The Arizona Supreme Court held otherwise. The court noted that although members of the public may have walked the tracks, none slept on the tracks. The court stated:

The appellant, in his use of the roadbed, was nothing more than a trespasser lying on the private right of way of the railroad company, and no use for walking, however, open, notorious and constant by the general public of any path crossing the railroad at that point or any other would entitle appellant to a favored position as a “licensee” slumberer member of such general public. The railroad and its employees owed no duty to appellant except to avoid wantonly, recklessly or wilfully injuring him after actually discovering his presence on the tracks.

Id. at 122-23, 166 P.2d at 829.

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763 F. Supp. 1509, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6585, 1991 WL 78411, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/delgado-v-southern-pacific-transportation-co-azd-1991.