Goebel v. SALT LAKE CITY SOUTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, 20020825.

• Decision Date: 01 October 2004
• Docket Number: No. 20020825.,20020825.
• Citation: 2004 UT 80,104 P.3d 1185
• Parties: Edward George Goebel and Kathy Goebel, Plaintiffs, Appellants, and Cross-Appellees, v. Salt Lake City Southern Railroad Company, Salt Lake City Corporation, Inc., Omni Products, Inc., Union Pacific Railroad Company, Utah Transit District, Defendants, Appellees, and Cross-Appellants.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

2004 UT 80

104 P.3d 1185

Edward George Goebel and Kathy Goebel, Plaintiffs, Appellants, and Cross-Appellees, v. Salt Lake City Southern Railroad Company, Salt Lake City Corporation, Inc., Omni Products, Inc., Union Pacific Railroad Company, Utah Transit District, Defendants, Appellees, and Cross-Appellants.

No. 20020825.

Supreme Court of Utah.

FILED October 1, 2004.

This opinion is subject to revision before final publication in the Pacific Reporter.

Peter C. Collins, Salt Lake, for plaintiffs.

E. Scott Savage, Casey K. McGarvey, Martha S. Stonebrook, Salt Lake, for defendants.

DURHAM, Chief Justice:

INTRODUCTION

¶1 Plaintiffs-appellants Edward and Kathy Goebel (the Goebels) appeal a grant of directed verdict and other rulings in favor of defendant-appellee Salt Lake City Southern Railroad Company, Inc. (Southern), and a grant of summary judgment in favor of Salt Lake City Corporation (the City). In brief, the Goebels argue that the trial court committed reversible error by:

(1) ruling that, as a matter of law, a certain roadway obstacle could not have been a proximate cause of Mr. Goebel's injuries;

(2) ruling that the Goebels were required to give Southern actual or constructive notice of their claim in order to survive Southern's motion for a directed verdict, despite a duty imposed upon Southern by Utah Code sections 10-7-26(2), 10-7-29, and 56-1-11, and Salt Lake City Code § 14.44.030, and that they had failed to adduce evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that Southern had such notice;

(3) failing to find that notice could be "presumed" in this case based on the alleged "permanence" of a dangerous condition;

(4) failing to find that evidence of the indeterminate length of time that the dangerous condition may have existed could support a jury finding that Southern had constructive notice of the condition;

(5) finding that notice is required in a statute-based public nuisance claim under Utah Code section 76-10-803;

(6) finding that an agreement between Union Pacific Railroad Company (Union Pacific) and Southern did not impose on Southern a duty of care toward Mr. Goebel;

(7) excluding an expert witness's empirical testing evidence from trial; and

(8) retroactively applying amended notice of claim requirements of the Governmental Immunity Act with respect to the Goebels' claims against Salt Lake City.

¶2 Southern cross-appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in ruling that Utah Code sections 10-7-26, 10-7-29, and 56-1-11, and Salt Lake City Code § 14.44.030 apply to Southern.

¶3 We affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

¶4 On February 19, 1998, Mr. Goebel was riding his bicycle on 1700 South Street over a railroad crossing near 200 West Street when he crashed, sustaining serious injuries. The Goebels' theory about what caused the accident focused partly on the rubber mats, called "field panels," that were a component of the crossing. The Goebels therefore brought suit against Omni Products, Inc., because its predecessor had manufactured the field panels. Additionally, the Goebels sued Union Pacific, which had installed the field panels, and Utah Transit Authority (UTA), which owned the rail line and crossing. The Goebels settled with each of these defendants before trial, and none of them are parties to this appeal. The remaining defendants who are parties to this appeal are Southern, which was using UTA's crossing for freight service pursuant to an easement, and the City, which was responsible for maintaining the street leading up to the crossing.

¶5 The tracks at the crossing had been owned by Union Pacific, but Union Pacific sold the tracks to UTA prior to Mr. Goebel's accident. Southern was formed in 1992 to continue freight service on the tracks, while UTA took on the passenger service. When Union Pacific sold the tracks to UTA, it retained a limited easement for the purpose of freight service, which it then immediately transferred to Southern. Southern then entered into an Administration and Coordination Agreement (Agreement) with UTA. The Agreement specified that Southern could run freight trains on tracks that UTA designated as "Freight Trackage." Thus, UTA owned the tracks, and Southern had an easement to use the tracks for freight purposes, subject to the terms of the Agreement. The Agreement required Southern to maintain freight trackage crossings as necessary for freight rail service.

¶6 At trial, the Goebels attempted to present evidence supporting their theory that a "protuberance"—the Goebels' term—in the road caused Mr. Goebel to steer his bicycle into a gap between field panels at the crossing. The field panels raised the level of the roadway almost to the level of the rails. The field panels were laid next to each other, but over time, the Goebels theorized, a gap running parallel to Mr. Goebel's direction of travel grew between two of the field panels. The Goebels theorized that Mr. Goebel's accident occurred because the front tire of Mr. Goebel's bicycle—a road bicycle with relatively narrow wheels and tires—entered the gap and jammed against one of the rails.

¶7 Notwithstanding the Goebels' theories, however, no witnesses actually saw, and Mr. Goebel cannot actually remember, what caused the accident. Southern presented evidence to support its competing theory of what caused Mr. Goebel's accident. According to Southern's theory, the gap was not even involved in Mr. Goebel's accident.

¶8 In an order dated July 8, 2002, the trial court granted the City's motion for summary judgment. The court granted in part Southern's motion for a directed verdict in an order dated August 29, 2002. The court's factual findings and legal conclusions as related to these orders are presented as relevant below.

ANALYSIS

I. THE DIRECTED VERDICT

¶9 The Goebels' first and most significant argument is that the trial court erred in granting Southern's motion for directed verdict because: (1) there was evidence presented at trial from which a jury could conclude that Southern had constructive notice of the protuberance, that it had a duty to fix the protuberance, and that its failure to fix the protuberance proximately caused Mr. Goebel to crash; (2) the Goebels did not need to present evidence that Southern had notice, because state law imposes an affirmative duty to maintain the crossing; (3) pursuant to Schnuphase v. Storehouse Markets, 918 P.2d 476 (Utah 1986), Southern should be presumed to have had notice because the gap was a permanent unsafe condition in a crossing for which Southern was responsible; (4) the jury could have inferred that Southern had constructive notice of the gap from evidence that gaps often form gradually over time; and (5) notice was not required as an element of the Goebels' public nuisance claim.

¶10 We review a trial court's grant of directed verdict for correctness. For a directed verdict to be appropriate, the evidence must be such that reasonable minds could not differ on the facts based on the evidence presented at trial. Mgmt. Comm. of Graystone Pines Homeowners Ass'n v. Graystone Pines, Inc., 652 P.2d 896, 897-98 (Utah 1982). We examine the evidence in the light most favorable to the losing party, and if that evidence and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom would support a judgment in favor of the losing party, we must reverse. Id. If evidence raises a "question of material fact," it is reversible error for a trial court to grant a motion for directed verdict. See Mahmood v. Ross, 1999 UT 104, ¶ 16, 990 P.2d 933.

A. The Significance of the Protuberance

¶11 The Goebels take issue with the trial court's finding that the protuberance was not a proximate cause of Mr. Goebel's damages, and further argue that Southern had both constructive notice of the existence of the protuberance and a duty to repair it. The trial court found that, "as a matter of law, the protuberance is not a proximate cause of [Mr. Goebel's] injuries . . . . It may very well be a factor in this accident, but . . . no dangerous gap, no accident. The dangerous gap is the proximate cause of the injuries [of] which plaintiff complains."

¶12 Proximate cause is an issue of fact and is, therefore, not typically resolved by the court in a jury trial. See Mackay v. 7-Eleven Sales Corp., 2000 UT 15, ¶ 12, 995 P.2d 1233. It is legal error for a court to grant a directed verdict on the issue of causation unless there is no evidence from which a reasonable jury might conclude that a breach of a duty proximately caused the plaintiff's injury. See Mahmood, 1999 UT 104 at ¶ 21. Put another way, if there is any doubt about whether something was a proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries, the court must not decide the issue as a matter of law. See Rees v. Albertson's, Inc., 587 P.2d 130, 133 (Utah 1978).

¶13 According to the Goebels' theory of the case, it was the gap that actually caused Mr. Goebel to fall, and the trial court did find that the gap was the proximate cause of the accident. Mr. Goebel argues that he steered his front wheel into the gap because he was avoiding the protuberance, but this does not mean that the existence of the protuberance necessarily forced Mr. Goebel to steer into the gap. From the evidence presented, no reasonable jury could find that the protuberance proximately caused Mr. Goebel to steer into the gap. The protuberance was no more a cause of Mr. Goebel's accident than his decision to ride his bicycle that day, or the weather. After reviewing the evidence, we agree with the trial court and Southern that Mr. Goebel could have steered his bicycle into the gap regardless of whether the protuberance existed at all. The trial court was therefore correct in finding as a matter of law that the protuberance was not a proximate cause of the accident.

B. Whether Notice Is Required Where Statutes Impose an Affirmative Duty

¶14 Building upon the trial court's ruling that Southern is a "railway company" that owed the Goebels a duty of care pursuant to Utah Code...