Winner v. CSX Transportation, Inc.

100 So. 3d 478, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 663, 2012 WL 5327332
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedOctober 30, 2012
DocketNo. 2010-CA-01029-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 100 So. 3d 478 (Winner v. CSX Transportation, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Winner v. CSX Transportation, Inc., 100 So. 3d 478, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 663, 2012 WL 5327332 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

BARNES, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. This negligence action arose out of a collision between a freight train and a truck hauling a lowboy trailer. The train was operated by James Winner and Joe [480]*480Brakefield, who filed complaints1 against Defendants CSX Transportation (CSXT) and Precision Construction Group, Inc. (Precision).2 Precision’s tractor-trailer, driven by its employee Donald Cochran, became stuck on the Jeff Davis Avenue grade crossing in Long Beach, Mississippi, and CSXT’s train struck it. Winner and Brakefield claim that central to the case is whether CSXT had prior notice of problems at the crossing.

¶ 2. After four years of extensive discovery, a six-day trial ensued, resulting in a jury verdict for CSXT. Approximately one year after filing a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) or, alternatively, a new trial, the Winner and Brakefield filed supplemental exhibits to their motion under Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 60. The exhibits consisted of two affidavits by two individuals stating they had seen trucks become stuck on the Jeff Davis crossing and CSXT trucks repairing damage to the tracks. Winner and Brakefield claimed the affidavits were newly discovered evidence that CSXT had prior notice that the crossing was dangerous. After their post-trial motion was denied, Winner and Brakefield filed a Rule 60 motion for relief and reconsideration. Winner and Brakefield based this motion on alleged fraud by CSXT, in addition to newly discovered evidence, because they claimed CSXT failed to answer honestly an interrogatory on prior notice of the crossing’s condition. The trial court denied the motion. Winner and Brakefield appeal, arguing they are entitled to a new trial because CSXT committed misrepresentation or misconduct, and there is newly discovered evidence due to the information in the two affidavits. Finding no error, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 3. On a rainy morning in November 2004, Precision’s tractor-trailer, hauling a lowboy loaded with a backhoe, became lodged on the Jeff Davis grade crossing. The trailer had less than six inches of ground clearance. When Cochran, the truck’s driver, saw the CSXT train coming, he tried to operate his truck’s hydraulics to dislodge it, but was unsuccessful.

¶ 4. From the train, Winner, the locomotive engineer, and Brakefield, the conductor, noticed the tractor-trailer stalled in the middle of the crossing. Winner placed the locomotive in emergency mode and applied the brakes, but despite these efforts, the train collided with the lowboy trailer. Cochran escaped before the train hit his truck. The train derailed, and the backhoe crashed into a nearby building.

¶ 5. Winner and Brakefield filed separate lawsuits in the Harrison County Circuit Court, asserting numerous legal claims for physical and mental injuries under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act. Winner and Brakefield alleged CSXT failed to provide them a safe workplace, properly maintain the crossing, and heed warnings that hang-ups were occurring at the crossing, among other matters. The two complaints were consolidated in 2006, and discovery ensued for the next several years.

¶ 6. In March 2009, a six-day trial began. Several witnesses testified for Winner and Brakefield about the Jeff Davis crossing. Archie Burnham testified as an expert witness on grade-crossing design. Winner and Brakefield retained him to examine [481]*481the grade crossing and its ability to handle lowboy trailers. Burnham opined that the crossing was improperly designed, and thus, the slope of the roadway was insufficient to allow the tractor-trailer to pass over the tracks without getting stuck. Burnham testified that the entity responsible for the design of the grade crossing is the entity that owns the road, the City of Long Beach. He also noted Jeff Daws Avenue had been designated as a truck route by the City.

¶ 7. Winner testified that between 1998 and 2004, he had heard about or seen trucks getting hung up on the Jeff Davis crossing about six times. The CSXT dispatcher would inform Winner when a truck was hung up on the crossing. Many years before the accident, Winner claimed he verbally reported a hang-up at the crossing to CSXT road foreman of engines Randy Cooper, and that CSXT needed to look into this problem. Cooper, however, did not recall Winner’s informing him of a hang-up at the crossing. In 2004, prior to the accident, Winner claimed he had to stop his train because a truck was hung up on the crossing; however, he did not report the incident to CSXT. He also recalled once when, as he came upon the Jeff Davis crossing in his train, a wrecker was dragging a tractor-trailer from the crossing. Also, Brakefield testified that he had heard the CSXT train dispatcher issue radio warnings about trucks being stuck on the crossing. However, he never reported a problem with the Jeff Davis crossing to CSXT, nor had he ever seen firsthand a truck stuck on the crossing until this accident.

¶ 8. Winner and Brakefield’s witness, Douglas Miller, a professional truck driver for Precision, testified that when he pulled lowboy trailers over the Jeff Davis crossing, they would always drag, and he had had a truck hang up on the crossing. However, he never notified CSXT of these incidents. William Skellie, the mayor of Long Beach, testified that he had had complaints from citizens about “the crossing being rough”; so he called CSXT. When he did not receive a response, he notified the Mississippi Department of Transportation in September 2004 to see if it could contact CSXT or repair the crossing.

¶ 9. CSXT called several witnesses who testified they were unaware of a problem at the Jeff Davis crossing. Melinda Du-buisson, who was an eyewitness to the collision, testified that, having lived in Long Beach her entire life, she was not aware of any prior tractor-trailer hang-ups at this crossing. Her husband, who works for the Long Beach Fire Department, also testified that he could not recall prior hang-ups. Additionally, the following three witnesses testified for CSXT that they were not aware of any reports of dragging or hang-ups at the crossing: Wayne McDowell of the Long Beach Police Department; Pat Fore, owner of Precision; and Steven Miskemens, road foreman of engines at CSXT.

¶ 10. The jury was instructed that testimony concerning prior incidents at the crossing could be used only to determine whether CSXT had prior knowledge of such incidents, not as evidence that the crossing was improperly designed or unreasonably dangerous. Also, the jury was instructed that to prove negligence, Winner and Brakefield were required to show CSXT either created the unsafe condition or that the condition had existed for so long that CSXT knew or should have known about it. If they failed to prove either of these matters, the jury had to return a verdict for CSXT. Finally, if the jury found the sole and proximately cause of the accident was the slope of the crossing, they were instructed to return a verdict for CSXT.

[482]*482¶ 11. After the jury returned a verdict for CSXT, Winner and Brakefield moved for a JNOV or, alternatively, a new trial. For approximately one year, from April 2009 until May 2010, the hearing for the motion was postponed numerous times. During this time, Winner and Brakefield searched unsuccessfully for individuals with prior knowledge about accidents or hang-ups at Jeff Davis crossing.3

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100 So. 3d 478, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 663, 2012 WL 5327332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/winner-v-csx-transportation-inc-missctapp-2012.