Court Opinion

ID: 9587612
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:24:16.272658+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:47:55.906053
License: Public Domain

KITTREDGE, J.
(concurring):
I concur in result. I write separately because I would affirm on the sole basis of federal preemption as to the claims against the South Carolina Department of Transportation in connection with the warning devices at the railway crossing. Even assuming the Department owed a duty under state law in connection with the railway crossing warning devices under the facts presented, any such state tort law duty imposed on the Department was preempted by federal law. Concerning the preemption issue, I join in the thorough analysis by Judge Anderson. This would serve as an alternative sustaining ground to the trial court’s grant of summary judgment on the basis of a lack of proximate cause. I further find it appropriate to rely on the preemption ground as an alternative sustaining ground, for the issue was squarely before the trial court. I’On, L.L.C. v. Town of Mt. Pleasant, 338 S.C. 406, 526 S.E.2d 716 (2000) (noting that appellate court has discretion to affirm on any ground appearing in the record, especially when issue has been vetted in the trial court). Concerning the trial court’s ruling on proximate cause, I concur in the majority opinion’s affirmance only insofar as the holding addresses the claims arising from the Department’s purported negligence as to the adjacent, state-maintained traffic signal.