Burlington Northern R. Co. v. Whitt

• Decision Date: 21 September 1990
• Citation: 575 So.2d 1011
• Parties: BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY and R.H. Shalhoop v. Joan Fay WHITT, as administratrix of the Estate of William Charles Whitt, deceased. 88-376.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 1011

575 So.2d 1011

BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY and R.H. Shalhoop v. Joan Fay WHITT, as administratrix of the Estate of William Charles Whitt, deceased.

88-376.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Sept. 21, 1990.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 9, 1990.

Charles E. Sharp, Mac B. Greaves and Joel A. Williams of Sadler, Sullivan, Herring & Sharp, Birmingham, and Morris W. Savage of Bankhead & Savage, Jasper, for appellants.

David Cromwell Johnson and Leila Hirayama of Johnson & Cory, Birmingham, Garve Ivey, Jr. of Wilson & King, Jasper, and Charles W. Gamble, Tuscaloosa, for appellee.

Broox G. Holmes and Grover E. Asmus II of Armbrecht, Jackson, DeMouy, Crowe, Holmes & Reeves, Mobile, for amicus curiae Business Council of Alabama.

SHORES, Justice.

This appeal involves the grade-crossing collision near Townley, Alabama, of a railroad train operated by Burlington Northern Railroad Company, and a tractor-trailer truck driven by William Whitt, who was killed in the accident. Burlington Northern sued Ligon Nationwide, Inc. ("Ligon"), as Mr. Whitt's employer, and Joan Faye Whitt, as administratrix of the estate of William Charles Whitt, on October 25, 1985. Burlington claimed that Whitt, in driving onto the crossing, negligently and/or wantonly caused the tractor-trailer that he was driving for Ligon to collide with Burlington's train, damaging it in the amount of $150,000. Mrs. Whitt counter-claimed against Burlington Northern, Inc., and several of its employees; she alleged that they were guilty of negligence and wantonness and that their negligence and wantonness had wrongfully caused Mr. Whitt's death, and she sought a judgment in the amount of $3 million. Following a trial, the jury awarded Mrs. Whitt $15 million. The trial court denied the counter-defendants' motion for a new trial, a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or a remittitur. This appeal followed. We shall refer to the counter-defendants as the "defendants" and to the counterclaimant, Mrs. Whitt, as the "plaintiff."

Facts

On Sunday, October 6, 1985, a freight train owned by Burlington Northern, Inc. ("Burlington"), was en route from Birmingham, Alabama, to Amory, Mississippi. The train consisted of two locomotives, 10 cars loaded with coal, and three empty cars. R.H. Shalhoop was operating the train and was seated on the right side of the lead locomotive. Henry Jackerson was seated on the left side of the lead locomotive and served as the crew's fireman. Also in the lead locomotive was the brakeman, Sidney McAnnally. The second locomotive was occupied by the flagman, Charles Chamblee, and the conductor, Guy Posey.

The train had stopped in Cordova, Dora, Alma, and Jasper, Alabama, and was travelling north to the next stop at Carbon Hill. Engineer Shalhoop testified that the speed limit set by Burlington for most of the distance between Jasper and Carbon Hill was 45 m.p.h., and the crew members estimated that the train was travelling at 42 or 43 m.p.h. before the accident. The train was equipped with a "black box," which contains a tape that records the train's speed, the time of day, the distance travelled, and the use of the train's braking systems. A printout of this information that was produced after the accident indicated that the train's speed at the time of impact was 48 m.p.h. Lehman Edgeworth, a Burlington trainmaster, testified that the printout indicated that immediately prior to the impact the train had been travelling at 50 m.p.h. Edgeworth also testified that the tape had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 m.p.h.

The accident occurred at 3:15 p.m. as William Whitt ("Whitt") travelled east on Highway 102 and across the tracks at the Townley-102 crossing and as the train was proceeding north. Thus, Whitt approached the crossing from the left side of the tracks, as viewed from the perspective of the train's crew. Approaching the crossing from the west, Whitt encountered several signs warning of the intersection: (1) A round orange highway sign with a black "X" and the letters "RR"; (2) a set of five speed bumps; (3) a white railroad warning painted on the roadway; (4) a railroad "crossbuck," a large "X" made of two crossed pieces of wood or metal, painted white with black lettering; and (5) red signal lights that are designed to flash automatically when a train approaches. A red stop sign is located on the east side of the railroad tracks, and requires motorists travelling from west to east on Highway 102 to stop at the intersection of Highway 102 and Highway 124; Highway 124 runs parallel to the train tracks near this intersection. Although the stop sign is on the east side of the tracks, the white line painted on the pavement marking the position in which motorists are to stop is located on the west side of the tracks, and, according to one witness, is approximately 20 feet 8 inches from the first rail. Whitt was familiar with this crossing, because his home was approximately one mile from the crossing, and he and his wife had lived there for 10 years. The plaintiff presented witnesses who testified that traffic at the crossing was fairly heavy on Sunday afternoons.

The train was equipped with headlights and a rotating "Mars" light on the front of the lead locomotive, and all of the lights were operating on the day of the accident. According to the train's crew members, Shalhoop blew the train's whistle and activated the train's air bell at the Moss-McCormick crossing, which is located approximately one-half mile south of the Townley-102 crossing. As the train proceeded northward, it passed a whistle board, a railroad sign indicating to the engineer that he should blow the train's whistle because the train is approaching an intersection, and crew members stated that Shalhoop blew the whistle again at that time. Several of the plaintiff's witnesses stated that they did not hear the train's whistle, or that they did not hear it until immediately before the impact. The defendants presented other witnesses who stated that they heard the whistle as the train approached and prior to the collision.

Whitt was driving a long-nosed tractor-trailer truck loaded with steel pipe. He had left his house just before the accident, intending to deliver the pipe for Ligon, for whom he worked. According to the crew members in the lead locomotive, and according to witnesses who approached the intersection in an automobile from the east side of the tracks and were facing Whitt as he approached, Whitt did not stop before he entered the crossing. The witnesses who saw the accident from their automobile testified that the truck slowed down as it neared the tracks, but that it pulled onto the tracks right in front of the train. Upon impact, the trailer separated from the cab, and the cab was pushed 2,046 feet down the tracks before it and the train stopped.

Engineer Shalhoop testified that he first saw Whitt's truck moving toward the crossing as the train approached the whistle board for the Townley-102 crossing, which was about one-half mile away. When he first spotted the truck, Shalhoop said, it appeared to him that it would stop at the crossing. Shalhoop testified that as the truck continued to move toward the tracks and he realized that it was not going to stop, he began blowing the whistle in warning blasts. Shalhoop said that when the truck passed the poles with the red signal lights, he placed the train into "emergency," which triggered all of the braking systems on the train, and he turned off the train's engine. Shalhoop stated that he could not have done anything else to prevent the accident. Shalhoop and conductor Posey testified that even if the train had been travelling at 33 m.p.h. when Whitt drove onto the tracks directly in front of the train, the train could not have been stopped before it struck the tractor-trailer at the crossing.

Whether the red warning lights facing Whitt were operating immediately before and after the impact was a much disputed issue. When the train approached the Townley-102 crossing, Whitt was the only motorist approaching from the west, so no witnesses were able to testify that the warning lights facing that side of the crossing were or were not flashing immediately before the accident. Five young women in an automobile waited at the intersection on the east side of the crossing, facing Whitt, as the train approached. Katrina Geib, the driver of the automobile, testified that as she drove up to the intersection she looked down the tracks and saw the train approaching. She stated that after she saw the train, she checked the signal lights facing her and they were flashing. Ella Barrentine, a friend of Mrs. Whitt's, testified that she lived approximately one block from the Townley-102 crossing at the time of the accident. She stated that she went to the crossing immediately after the accident, and that the signal lights on the west side of the crossing, from which Whitt approached, were not flashing. Anthony Whitt, the decedent's brother, testified that he was about one-half mile from the crossing at the time of the accident, and that he went to the crossing immediately after he heard the crash and saw smoke. He, too, testified that the signal lights on the west side of the crossing were not flashing when he arrived. Finally, Byas Gilbert testified that after he heard an explosion, he went to the Townley-102 crossing. He stated that the signal lights were not flashing when he arrived, but that a black man walked down the tracks from the direction of the train and entered the signal house next to the tracks and that the lights then began to flash.

The testimony of the defendants' witnesses conflicted on the issue of whether the signal lights were flashing at the time of and after the accident. Alabama State Trooper Steven Stevens testified that the signal lights on the west side of the tracks were flashing when he arrived at the accident scene at 3:34 p.m. to conduct an investigation. Fred Wilkerson, a...