Opinion ID: 1879629
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: andersons' expert witness

Text: Andersons' expert witness, Dr. William Berg, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, examined and evaluated the grade crossing where the collision occurred. Much of Dr. Berg's testimony related to the interwoven issues of the railroad's negligence and the contributory negligence of McCully. Dr. Berg concluded that the crossing was dangerous because Union Pacific failed to satisfy minimum safety standards in constructing and maintaining the crossing. Automatic crossing gates should have been installed, on account of the multiple main line, a motorist's obstruction of view resulting from stationary railroad cars on the center siding, and high-speed train operation, combined with the multiple tracks at the crossing and the obstructed view for northbound motorists. The setting at the crossing resulted in the likelihood of a hidden train moving behind the stationary hoppers on the center siding. Automatic crossing gates would have kept vehicular traffic off the crossing until an approaching train had passed over the crossing. The false warnings from the malfunctioning signal-flashers caused a credibility problem for motorists. Knowing that the flashers had continually malfunctioned by giving false indications of train traffic, motorists would disregard the signals and proceed to a point on the crossing where they might visually verify the presence of approaching railroad traffic. The situation is dangerously compounded by the presence of standing railroad cars on the center siding. A driver must continue to move forward on the crossing to see around the stationary railroad cars before there is visual verification of an approaching train behind the hoppers on the siding. At the point of such verification, there will be inadequate time for the motorist's vehicle to clear the track on which the train is approaching. Given the semi's speed of 7½ miles per hour, the train's speed of 46 miles per hour, and the driver's reaction time of 2½ seconds to stop the Anderson semi, Dr. Berg calculated that there was no time available for McCully to stop the semi in advance of the westbound main line, after McCully passed the center siding and could have seen the approaching westbound train: The last point that you would have been able to apply the brakes and stop was also the very first point in which that train could have been viewed if you were looking directly at it. While only the head end of an approaching westbound freight was hidden by the hoppers on the center siding, the remainder of the train, although visible beyond the furthest hopper on the east, would have been indiscernible as a separate and moving train, or, as explained by Dr. Berg: [B]ecause at that distance [between Andersons' semi and the furthest hopper] everything blends together. In other words, in perspective, this train, the farther it is away, gets smaller and smaller and smaller. And if you were to see another approaching train or if there in fact was another approaching train, it would be very difficult to determine whether it was simply a part of this train that's on a center track or whether it is another train approaching. So, no, it would be unreasonable to expect a motorist to be able to make that judgment reliably. In summary, Dr. Berg testified that the principal causal factors of the accident were (1) lack of a credible warning device and (2) sight obstruction caused by the stationary hoppers on the center siding. Under the circumstances, Dr. Berg concluded that McCully's conduct in operating the semi was not the cause of the accident inasmuch as the obstruction on the center siding prevented a motorist's perception of the threat from an approaching train on the westbound main line. At the conclusion of all evidence, Union Pacific requested a directed verdict against Andersons, which the district court denied. The transcript does not contain Union Pacific's requested instructions. However, at the conference on instructions, Union Pacific requested that the jury be instructed on the failure of the plaintiffs' driver to maintain a semi-tractor trailer under reasonable control, to which the district court responded: I don't find any evidence of that, so I won't use it. After the verdict for Andersons, Union Pacific requested judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial, both of which were denied by the court. As previously indicated concerning the assignments of error, Union Pacific does not question the jury's finding that the railroad was negligent; rather, Union Pacific questions only the effect of McCully's conduct as contributory negligence and the court's refusal to give an instruction concerning lack of reasonable control in the operation of Andersons' semi.