Walker v. St. Louis-Southwestern Railway Co.

835 S.W.2d 469, 1992 Mo. App. LEXIS 1004, 1992 WL 137587
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 23, 1992
DocketNo. 59816
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 835 S.W.2d 469 (Walker v. St. Louis-Southwestern Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walker v. St. Louis-Southwestern Railway Co., 835 S.W.2d 469, 1992 Mo. App. LEXIS 1004, 1992 WL 137587 (Mo. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

GARY M. GAERTNER, Judge.

Appellants, the surviving spouse and the minor child of decedent, Randy S. Walker, appeal a grant of summary judgment in favor of respondent, St. Louis-Southwestern Railway Co., in their suit for wrongful death. We affirm.

On February 28, 1986, at approximately 7:30 p.m., decedent drove his 1976 Chevrolet Nova onto the Randall’s Railroad Crossing in Scott County. The crossing contains two tracks, a siding track on the West side, [471]*471and a main line track on the East side. Both tracks curve toward the West at the crossing. At the time decedent’s car approached from the East, the crossing was obstructed by a slow-moving train on the siding (West) track. Decedent pulled his car up to the crossing, stopping on the main line track. Eyewitnesses observed decedent move the car back and forth numerous times, rolling the car on and off the track. After several minutes, they observed decedent and his passenger step out of the car, urinate on the crossing approach, and return to the car, which, thereafter, remained stationary on the main line track. After several more minutes, a southbound train approached the crossing on the main line track. Because the slower train on the siding track obstructed the view of both the decedent and the approaching train, they could not see each other until the train was only 800 feet from the crossing. The engineer applied the train’s emergency brakes and sounded the train’s horn, but was unable to stop the train before it struck the decedent’s car, killing both people inside.

Appellants filed their petition for wrongful death on October 14,1987, in the Circuit Court of Cape Girardeau County. On May 24, 1990, at the close of discovery, respondent filed its first motion for summary judgment. Appellants dismissed the suit without prejudice on June 18, 1990, so respondent’s motion was never heard or considered.

On July 23, 1990, appellants re-filed their petition in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis. On September 14, 1990, respondent again moved for summary judgment. Appellants filed an amended petition on January 25, 1991, and the court heard and sustained respondent’s motion for summary judgment on January 29, 1991. This appeal followed.

Summary judgment is a drastic remedy, reserved only for those cases which present no issue of material fact. Rule 74.04(c). In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, all evidence and inferences must be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and they must be afforded the benefit of every doubt. Eugene Alper Const. Co. v. Joe Garavelli’s of West Port, Inc., 655 S.W.2d 132, 135 (Mo.App., E.D.1983). On appeal, we first determine whether any issue of material fact exists requiring trial, then determine whether the judgment is correct as a matter of law. Baker v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 806 S.W.2d 742, 743 (Mo.App., E.D.1991).

In their brief, appellants allege six issues of material fact:

(a) whether the railroad crossing that was the site of said accident was an extra-hazardous or ultra-hazardous crossing;
(b) whether the warning devices at said crossing were adequate;
(c) whether the warning devices at said crossing were adequately and properly maintained;
(d) whether respondent’s train was operating at a speed commensurate with the extra-hazardous nature of said crossing;
(e) whether the crossing was too narrow; and
(f) whether the crossing itself was properly and adequately maintained.

Federal preemption has become an issue regarding four of the above claims, namely claims (a), (b), (d) and (e). The statute at issue, the Federal Railroad Safety Act, was enacted in 1970, but courts have only just begun to consider the possible preemptive effects of the statute. As a result, preemption of the above issues is a question of first impression in the Eastern District of Missouri, though other jurisdictions, including this court’s Western District, have considered it.1 We shall review each of appellants’ claims individually.

[472]*472Appellants first allege that the crossing where the accident occurred was an extra- or ultra-hazardous crossing, imposing a common law duty upon respondent to install appropriate warning devices. Respondent argues that its common law duty has been preempted by the Federal Railroad Safety Act (“FRSA”), 45 U.S.C. § 421 et seq. (1970).

Under the Supremacy Clause of Article YI of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress can enact legislation which preempts state law in a particular field. English v. General Elec. Co., 496 U.S. 72, 110 S.Ct. 2270, 2275, 110 L.Ed.2d 65 (1990). A determination of whether the doctrine of federal preemption is applicable depends upon congressional intent in enacting the pertinent statute. Schneidewind v. ANR Pipeline Co., 485 U.S. 293, 299, 108 S.Ct. 1145, 1150, 99 L.Ed.2d 316 (1988). Preemption can be express or implied. Hillsborough County v. Automated Medical Labs., 471 U.S. 707, 713, 105 S.Ct. 2371, 2375, 85 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985). Express preemption occurs when Congress makes its intent known through explicit statutory language. English, 110 S.Ct. at 2275. In the absence of explicit language, an intent to preempt State law in an entire field can be inferred from a “scheme of regulation ... so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the states to supplement it,” or where an Act of Congress “toueh[es] 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 same sub-ject.” Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 230, 67 S.Ct. 1146, 1152, 91 L.Ed. 1447 (1947). A presumption against preemption exists, and the party seeking to establish that state law has been preempted by a federal law or regulation has the burden of proving preemption was intended at the time of enactment. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U.S. 724, 747-48, 105 S.Ct. 2380, 2393, 85 L.Ed.2d 728 (1985).

Despite the heavy burden required for preemption, only a very small minority of jurisdictions have ruled that preemption does not apply in cases similar to the one at bar. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Karl v. Burlington Northern R. Co., 880 F.2d 68 (8th Cir.1989), held that a tort law claim is not preempted by the FRSA. The Karl

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Bluebook (online)
835 S.W.2d 469, 1992 Mo. App. LEXIS 1004, 1992 WL 137587, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walker-v-st-louis-southwestern-railway-co-moctapp-1992.