Opinion ID: 2275645
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: This is an appeal from a summary judgment order, entered by the Bullitt Circuit Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeals, in favor of Appellees, CSX Transportation, Inc., and one of its engineers. Appellants, Mary and Jesse Calhoun, contend that summary judgment was not appropriate. We accepted discretionary review to consider Appellants' contentions and for the reasons stated below, affirm in part and reverse in part. The crux of the present controversy centers around whether the particular railroad crossing was public or private, and the corresponding duty a railroad owes at such crossing. Generally speaking, at a private crossing, a railroad has no duty of lookout, or to warn (unless it knows that a person is in actual peril of being struck), or to clear vegetation from around its right-of-way. Yet, this minimal duty at private crossings is enhanced in three instances: where a different duty was assumed; if the crossing is, or becomes, ultra-hazardous; or where, by pervasive use, the character of a private crossing has changed to a public one.