Springston v. Consolidated Rail Corp.

130 F.3d 241, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 32276
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedNovember 19, 1997
DocketNos. 96-3571, 96-3608
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 130 F.3d 241 (Springston v. Consolidated Rail Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Springston v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 130 F.3d 241, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 32276 (6th Cir. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION

BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff appeals and defendant Consolidated Rail Corporation (“Conrail”) cross-appeals the judgment of the district court in this diversity action arising out of a collision between a Conrail train and a pick-up truck driven by plaintiff in northwest Ohio. For the reasons to follow, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

I

On June 1, 1991, at approximately 11:30 p.m., while traveling east on Route 281 in rural northwest Ohio, Robert Springston drove his pick-up truck onto a Conrail main track, directly in the path of a northbound Conrail train. The resulting collision left Springston a quadriplegic.

The crossing at which this collision occurred was equipped with a crossbuck and an advance warning sign as required by law; it did not have lights or mechanical crossing gates. Springston had never traversed this crossing before and was not familiar with the area. Conrail’s engineer testified that Springston had his dome light on and appeared to be looking at the seat or the floor next to him when he drove over the tracks. Springston does not deny this allegation and in fact indicates that he had been looking at a map on the seat next to him sometime prior to the collision.

Springston brought suit against Conrail, which owns the train and the track, and General Motors Corporation (“GM”), which manufactured the train. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on plaintiffs claims of negligence based upon the lack of visual devices on the locomotive such as reflective tape, a strobe light, a ditch light, oscillating lights, and the color of the locomotive, finding that these claims were preempted by federal law. Subsequently, the court granted summary judgment to Conrail on plaintiffs punitive damages claim as well. The sole remaining [244]*244claim, a claim against Conrail for negligence based on the adequacy of the warning devices installed at the crossing, went to trial, and the jury apportioned negligence 30% to Conrail and 70% to Springston. Springston appeals, asserting that the district court erred in granting summary judgment to GM, in granting partial summary judgment to Conrail, in the instructions to the jury, and in its evidentiary rulings. Defendant Conrail appeals a single evidentiary ruling.

II

A. FEDERAL PREEMPTION

The district court granted summary judgment to both defendants on plaintiffs claims of negligence based on the lack of extra-statutory warning signals on the train, holding that these claims were preempted by federal law. We review de novo the court’s granting of summary judgment. Harrow Products, Inc. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 64 F.3d 1015, 1019 (6th Cir.1995).

Federal preemption of state law claims can be either express or implied. The district court inferred preemption under the Boiler Inspection Act (“BIA”).

‘[T]he scheme of federal regulation may be so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it,’ because ‘the Act of Congress may touch a field in which the federal interest is so dominant that the federal system will be assumed to preclude enforcement of state laws on the subject,’ or because ‘the object sought to be obtained by federal law and the character of obligations imposed by it may reveal the same purpose.’

Fidelity Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. de la Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141, 153, 102 S.Ct. 3014, 3022, 73 L.Ed.2d 664 (1982) (quoting Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 230, 67 S.Ct. 1146, 1152, 91 L.Ed. 1447 (1947)). Where Congress intends to occupy a field, state law in that field is preempted. Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. v. State Energy Resources Conservation and Dev. Comm’n, 461 U.S. 190, 212-213, 103 S.Ct. 1713, 1726-27, 75 L.Ed.2d 752 (1983).

When facing a question of implied preemption, a court must begin with the presumption that the state law is valid. “ ‘It will not be presumed that a federal statute was intended to supersede the exercise of the power of the state unless there is a clear manifestation of intention to do so. The exercise of federal supremacy is not lightly to be presumed.’ ” New York State Dept. of Soc. Servs. v. Dublino, 413 U.S. 405, 413, 93 S.Ct. 2507, 2513, 37 L.Ed.2d 688 (1973) (citation omitted).

Plaintiff claims that GM was negligent in its design and manufacture of the train in question because it was not equipped with certain warning devices above and beyond those devices required by federal law, and that Conrail was negligent because it operated the train in that defective condition. Defendants counter by arguing that state law tort claims based upon the need for such extra-statutory devices are preempted by federal law. The defendants have the better argument. In 1893, Congress enacted the first of multiple statutes collectively known as the Safety Appliance Acts (“SAA”). Baltimore and O.R.R. v. Jackson, 353 U.S. 325, 338, 77 S.Ct. 842, 849-50, 1 L.Ed.2d 862 (1957) (Burton, J., dissenting). A related act, the BIA, was first enacted in 1911. Marshall v. Burlington Northern, Inc., 720 F.2d 1149, 1152 (9th Cir.1983). Through these acts, Congress conferred on the Interstate Commerce Commission (“ICC”) full authority over “the entire locomotive and tender and all parts and appurtenances thereof.” Napier v. Atlantic Coast Line R.R., 272 U.S. 605, 608, 47 S.Ct. 207, 208, 71 L.Ed. 432 (1926) (quoting BIA amendment of 1915). That power was transferred from the ICC to the Department of Transportation in 1966 by the Department of Transportation Act. Marshall, 720 F.2d at 1152.

At the time plaintiff filed his complaint, these acts were codified within 45 U.S.C. §§ 1-43. As of July 5, 1994, Congress repealed 45 U.S.C. §§ 1-43. Pub.L. No. 103-272, § 7(b), 108 Stat. 1379. The Acts’ provisions were transferred and re-codified at 49 U.S.C. §§ 20301-20306 and 20701-20903. Pub.L. No. 103-272, § 1(e), 108 Stat. 881-883 [245]*245and 885-887. See Moses v. Union Pacific R.R., 64 F.3d 413, 418 (8th Cir.1995).

In Napier, the Court considered whether Congress had intended to occupy the field of locomotive equipment to the exclusion of state authority when it enacted the BIA. The Napier

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

MILESCO v. Norfolk Southern Corp.
807 F. Supp. 2d 214 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 2011)
Copeland Corporation v. Choice Fabricators Incorporated
345 F. App'x 74 (Sixth Circuit, 2009)
Frastaci v. Vapor Corp.
70 Cal. Rptr. 3d 402 (California Court of Appeal, 2007)
Wright v. General Electric Co.
242 S.W.3d 674 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2007)
Mattingly v. Medtronic, Inc.
486 F. Supp. 2d 964 (E.D. Missouri, 2007)
Jackson v. Pfizer, Inc.
432 F. Supp. 2d 964 (D. Nebraska, 2006)
Dickerson v. Staten Trucking, Inc.
428 F. Supp. 2d 909 (E.D. Arkansas, 2006)
Union Pacific Railroad v. Motive Equipment, Inc.
2006 WI App 58 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2006)
Nye v. CSX Transportation, Inc.
300 F. Supp. 2d 529 (N.D. Ohio, 2004)
In Re West Virginia Asbestos Litigation
592 S.E.2d 818 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2003)
Roth v. I & M Rail Link, L.L.C.
179 F. Supp. 2d 1054 (S.D. Iowa, 2001)
Bell v. Illinois Central Railroad
236 F. Supp. 2d 882 (N.D. Illinois, 2001)
Norfolk Southern Railway Company v. Denson
774 So. 2d 549 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2000)
Scheiding v. General Motors Corp.
993 P.2d 996 (California Supreme Court, 2000)
Seaman v. A.P. Green Industries, Inc.
184 Misc. 2d 603 (New York Supreme Court, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
130 F.3d 241, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 32276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/springston-v-consolidated-rail-corp-ca6-1997.