Opinion ID: 1671712
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Lang case

Text: The accident involved in the Lang case occurred in Oxford, Alabama, at approximately 6:00 p.m. at the intersection of Pace Street and Norfolk Southern's main line track. There were two double-faced crossbuck signs, one on each side of the track, and a red and white octagonal STOP sign on the south side of the track. The driver, David Alan Lang, pulled in behind another car that was stopped at the track, waiting for the train involved in this accident to pass. Mr. Lang pulled around the car that was stopped at the crossing and had proceeded across the tracks when the collision occurred; he died as a result of this collision. As with the crossing in the Hamlin case, federal funds were also used in the installation of advance warning signs on both sides of the crossing involved in the Lang case, and no-passing zone signs were placed on both sides of the crossing, and R X R pavement markings were painted on both sides of the crossing. (C.R. 557-602.) Dykes T. Rushing, who had prepared an affidavit for filing in the Hamlin case, also made an affidavit in the Lang case. In his affidavit he stated that he was employed by the Alabama State Department of Transportation as an office engineer, that the Federal Highway Administration had approved and authorized the project to install passive warning devices at this particular crossing, and that federal funds were used in the project. As in the Hamlin case, the trial court entered a written order granting the defendant's motion for summary judgment: The matters addressed by this Order have been the subject of several hearings as well as two trial settings in the last three weeks. The defendants, Norfolk Southern Railway Company and its engineer, Terry Wayne Clements, had timely filed a Motion for Summary Judgment prior to the original trial setting on May 9, 1994. In the week preceding that setting, the defendants discovered certain documents in the possession of the state and local governments that supported defendants' defense of federal preemption. The defendants were not ... signatory to these documents and had not previously had knowledge of them. For reasons unrelated to the discovery of these documents, but also in order to have more time to consider the effect of these documents on their claims, plaintiffs requested a continuance of the trial setting on May 9, 1994. The Court offered plaintiffs the option of proceeding with a hearing on defendants' summary judgment motion without consideration of the newly discovered documents and then to trial if the motion was overruled or a continuance with the agreement and understanding of all parties that the Court would have a hearing on the defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment on May 20, 1994, and a new trial setting of May 23, 1994. Plaintiffs elected the option of a continuance and later hearing. On May 20, a hearing was held and [it] involved a full and complete examination of all matters pertinent to and submitted in support of or [in] opposition to defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. These essential facts regarding the accident are uncontroverted. The accident occurred at approximately 6 p.m., February 21, 1988, at the intersection of Pace Street and the Norfolk Southern Railway Company main line in the City of Oxford, Calhoun County, Alabama. The automobile driven by plaintiffs' decedent was northbound and the train was westbound. There were two standard double-faced crossbuck signs, one on each side of the track, and a red and white octagonal STOP sign on the south side of the track facing northbound traffic on Pace Street at the crossing at the time of the accident. The Lang vehicle pulled up behind another car stopped in the northbound lane at the crossing, either stopped or almost stopped, then pulled around the other car into the southbound lane and proceeded onto the track where the collision occurred. The train, which was travelling a little less than 40 mph, was within the maximum speed of 60 mph permitted by federal regulations. At the conclusion of that hearing, based on the undisputed evidence before it, the Court granted the defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment with respect to any claim predicated on negligence or wantonness as to the speed at which the train involved in the accident was operating and as to any claim of negligence or wantonness predicated on the adequacy of the traffic control devices present at the crossing on the date in question. These claims are preempted by federal law. The facts and basis for the Court's ruling as to preemption on signals is discussed in detail below. Counsel for the plaintiffs stipulated in open court that they neither had nor made any claim with respect to the nature or type or adequacy or inadequacy of the horn with which the locomotive was equipped and, accordingly, the Court dismissed that claim with prejudice. Thereafter, the Court conducted a hearing pursuant to [Ala.R.Civ.P.] 56(d). Plaintiffs indicated they would proceed to trial on the issues of whether, on the occasion in question, the train crew was maintaining proper lookout, whether the train's horn was blown so as to give proper warning of the train's approach, and whether the railroad had negligently maintained the vegetation within the area along its right-of-way it had undertaken to maintain. When the case was called for trial on May 23, 1994, counsel for plaintiffs requested an opportunity to be heard again and to submit additional materials on the issue of preemption as to signs and signals. The Court heard further argument and reviewed, as requested, the deposition of plaintiffs' proffered expert, Mr. Archie Burnham. At the conclusion of the arguments, plaintiffs conceded tat they had no evidence of any negligence or wantonness with respect to any claim against Norfolk Southern or its engineer, Mr. Terry Wayne Clements, except for their claim as to the inadequacy of the signs or signals. Plaintiffs also stipulated that the latter claim was not asserted against the engineer. In support of their Motion for Summary Judgment, the defendants presented the affidavits of Dykes T. Rushing, E.H. Bentley, Michael P. Bucko, and Shirley Henson. Mr. Rushing is Office Engineer for the Alabama Department of Transportation and is responsible for the oversight of the Alabama State Department of Transportation records of federal aid projects. He is the custodian of those records. He testified that the Pace Street crossing at issue in this case involved participation (including approval and authorization of the project) by the Federal Highway Administration and utilized federal funds for the improvement of that crossing by the installation of warning devices prior to the accident in question. The affidavit of Mr. E.H. Bentley established that companies owned by him held the contracts to perform the work of installing the warning devices at the Pace Street crossing called for by the Federal Aid Projects authenticated by Mr. Rushing's affidavit and that work was performed and was complete by July, 1979, and that federal funds paid for the construction. Mr. Michael P. Bucko, Financial Manager for the Alabama Division of the Federal Highway Administration, authenticated documents attached to his affidavit pertaining to the Federal Aid Project involving the installation of traffic control warning devices at several railroad-highway crossings in Oxford, including the Pace Street crossing, in 1978 and established that over $167,000.00 in federal funds were expended on that project, which included Pace Street. The affidavit of Ms. Shirley Henson authenticated a Federal Aid Rail Highway Crossing Project Agreement incident to the same projects and established that the City of Oxford agreed to maintain the warning devices after installation. This evidence is not disputed. Based on these undisputed facts, this Court concludes that there is no genuine issue of material fact, that federal funds participated in the installation of warning devices at the crossing in issue, and that the defendant Norfolk Southern Railway Company (plaintiffs having stipulated that this claim is not asserted against the engineer) is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law on the plaintiffs' claims seeking to impose liability on the railroad for inadequate warning devices at the crossing. The Court was not presented with any legal authority establishing that under current Alabama law on the facts of this case Norfolk Southern would have had a duty to have ... signs or signals at this crossing other or different from those that were present, it being undisputed that standard crossbuck signs were in place on both sides of the track as well as a `STOP' sign on the south side facing northbound traffic at the time of the accident. Nevertheless, assuming without deciding that Alabama law might impose such a duty, this decision is based on the preemption of such claims on the reasoning set out in and authority of Borden v. CSX Transportation, Inc., 843 F.Supp. 1410 (M.D.Ala.1993), Armijo v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry., 19 F.3d 547 (10th Cir.1994) and Easterwood v. CSX Transportation, Inc., [507 U.S. at 668], 113 S.Ct. at 1740-41. Plaintiffs point out that some of the pavement markings installed under the Federal Aid Projects in 1978 may not have still been present on the date of this accident in 1988. They argue that this abrogated preemption. There are several answers to this. First, no provision of state or federal law imposes on the railroad an obligation to maintain warning devices of the type which were the subject of the federal aid projects and by virtue of which preemption obtains here. Second, the City of Oxford, not the railroad, expressly contracted and agreed to maintain the devices. Third, preemption arises from the exercise of authority, albeit that the exercise of federal authority is in this instance established by proof of a rather mechanical, but substantively important and complex act, i.e., expenditure of federal funds for the installation of passive warning devices. Once federal authority has occupied the field, this Court can find no authority to support the notion that authority may diminish or wear out with passage of time. In accordance with the foregoing, it is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED, by stipulation of the plaintiffs in open court, that all claims against the defendant, Terry Wayne Clements, are due to be and the same are hereby dismissed with prejudice. It is further hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that all claims, by stipulation of the plaintiffs in open court, against Norfolk Southern Railway Company, save except the sole claim with respect to the adequacy of the signs or signals at the crossing, are due to be and the same are hereby dismissed with prejudice to the plaintiffs. It is further ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED by the Court that summary judgment be and the same is hereby entered in favor of the defendant Norfolk Southern Railway Company on the sole remaining claim of the plaintiffs as to the adequacy of the signs or signals at the crossing.... Costs are taxed to the plaintiffs. (C.R. 649-56.) I agree with conclusion reached by the trial judge in each case. In my opinion, the Supreme Court of the United States in CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Easterwood, 507 U.S. 658, 113 S.Ct. 1732, 123 L.Ed.2d 387 (1993), held that when federal funds are used in the installation of warning devices at a railroad-highway crossing, and where, as here, there was federal participation in the installation of warning devices, then a cause of action that is based on an alleged inadequate or defective safety practice is preempted. [6] Here, the plaintiffs claim that Norfolk Southern was negligent, specifically that it improperly maintained the crossing and thereby made it hazardous. The plaintiffs argue that the doctrine of federal preemption does not apply to their tort claims, and the majority of this Court agrees with their argument, reversing the judgment entered in each case. I must respectfully disagree with the majority's resolution of this legal issue.