King v. Illinois Cent. R.R.

• Decision Date: 21 July 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-60587.,02-60587.
• Citation: 337 F.3d 550
• Parties: Juddson W. KING, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD and Kenneth M. Anders, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

337 F.3d 550

Juddson W. KING, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD and Kenneth M. Anders, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 02-60587.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

July 21, 2003.

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Vicki R. Slater, Jackson, MS, Charles M. Merkel, Jr. (argued), Merkel & Cocke, Clarksdale, MS, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Chad Michael Knight (argued), Charles Henry Russell, III, Wise, Carter, Child & Caraway, Jackson, MS, for Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Before DAVIS, HALL^* and EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judges.

W. EUGENE DAVIS, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff, Juddson W. King (King), appeals the district court's judgment granting summary judgment to the Defendants, Illinois Central Railroad Company (ICR) and Kenneth Anders (Anders), dismissing all of King's claims arising out of an automobile-train collision at a railroad crossing. The district court concluded that King failed to establish a genuine issue of material fact with respect to his claims that ICR and the train engineer, Anders, were negligent. After a de novo review, we agree with the district court's conclusions and, therefore, affirm.

I.

This case arises out of a train-automobile collision occurring in February 1997, at the Highway 27 railroad crossing (the "Crossing"), in Wanilla, Lawrence County, Mississippi. At approximately 8:50 p.m., King, driving a Ford Bronco at a speed of approximately 45 m.p.h., struck the eighteenth boxcar of ICR's train (the "Train") which occupied the Crossing at the time of the accident. The Train was moving at a speed of approximately 5 m.p.h. Anders was at the Train's controls as engineer at the time of the accident. King sustained severe personal injuries.

Three years after the accident, King filed suit in state court in Mississippi against ICR and Anders, contending that they were negligent in a number of respects. The defendants removed the case to federal court on the grounds of diversity. After the close of discovery, the defendants moved for summary judgment on all of King's claims. The district court granted the defendants' motion, dismissing all of King's claims.

In its opinion and order, the district court determined that King failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact tending to show that Anders or ICR was negligent. More particularly, the court concluded that Anders and ICR owed no duty to warn of the presence of the Train because the Train's presence in the crossing acted as sufficient warning of the danger under the "occupied crossing doctrine." The district court also determined that King failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether ICR had notice of the alleged defect or malfunction in the signal prior to the accident. Regarding King's claim that Anders failed to maintain a proper look out or reasonable control of the Train, the district court concluded that King failed to establish that the Train crew would have responded differently had they seen the vehicle approaching because the crew was entitled to presume he would stop. Finally, the district court ruled that King's claim that ICR negligently failed to use reflectors on the train was preempted under federal law. King filed a timely appeal from the district court's judgment.

II.

A.

Because this case was resolved on a motion for summary judgment, we review the district court's judgment de novo, applying the same standard as the district court. Ramirez v. City of San Antonio, 312 F.3d 178, 181 (5th Cir.2002). We review the district court's evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. Celestine v. Petroleos de Venez. SA, 266 F.3d 343, 349 (5th Cir.2001).

B.

Because this is a diversity case, we apply Mississippi substantive law. Under Mississippi law, "ordinarily a train legitimately stopped or standing over a public crossing because of its tremendous size is all the warning the traveling public is entitled to." Clark v. Columbus & Greenville Ry. Co., 473 So.2d 947, 950 (Miss.1985). This rule also applies when the train is occupying the crossing while it is moving. Spilman v. Gulf & S.I.R. Co., 173 Miss. 725, 163 So. 445 (1935). In Mississippi Exp. R. Co. v. Summers, 194 Miss. 179, 11 So.2d 429 (1943), the Mississippi Supreme Court explained that under the "occupied crossing rule":

... a railroad company may leave its train, or any part of it, standing over a public crossing, night or day, and whether light or dark, without any light or warning of any kind to the traveling public; that the presence of the car or cars themselves is all the warning the traveling public is entitled to unless the conditions were unusual ... Id. at 430. (emphasis added).

There is, however, a recognized exception to the "occupied crossing rule" where the railroad should foresee that a motorist using ordinary care may not see the train because of a peculiar environment or hazardous condition. Spilman, 173 Miss. 725, 163 So. 445. However, King has failed to come forward with facts which would bring his case within this exception.

King argues that he should be excused from the "occupied crossing rule" because the accident happened at night. The Mississippi case law does not support King's argument.

Courts have only found the exception applicable where extraordinary physical environments or landscapes make the crossing difficult to see. For example, Mississippi courts make an exception where a vehicle approaches a crossing on a street with a steep and varied incline so that a vehicle's headlights do not strike the train's cars. Illinois Cent. R.R. Co. v. Williams, 242 Miss. 586, 135 So.2d 831, 837 (1961). Likewise, a sharp curve in the road leading to the crossing, creating a trap for approaching drivers, constitutes a peculiar environment or hazardous condition taking the case outside of the scope of the occupied crossing rule. Green v. Gulf, Mobil & Ohio R.R. Co., 244 Miss. 211, 141 So.2d 216 (1962). Similarly, a decline or dip in the street over the crossing such that a flatcar cannot be seen at night during heavy fog constitutes a peculiar environment or hazardous condition. Boyd v. Illinois Cent. R.R. Co., 211 Miss. 409, 52 So.2d 21, 25-27 (1951). A physical obstruction blocking the view of the crossing may also constitute a peculiar environment or hazardous condition. Hales v. Illinois Cent. Gulf R.R. Co., 718 F.2d 138, 142-143 (5th Cir.1983). However, the darkness of night is not a peculiar environment or hazardous condition. Owens v. Int'l Paper Co., 528 F.2d 606, 610 (5th Cir.1976).

In Owens, we affirmed the district court's order granting an instructed verdict in favor of the defendant on the ground that the occupied crossing rule precluded recovery by plaintiffs. The plaintiffs were the survivors of Ronald Owens who was killed when the automobile he was driving struck a black flatcar on a spur track at 9:00 p.m. Plaintiffs argued that they made a sufficient showing of the defendant's negligence to raise fact issues requiring jury resolution.

In Owens, we stated that the record testimony established only that the black flatcar was on the track at night and that the flatcar was hard to see. We stated further that "something more had to be added under Mississippi law to establish an environment of unusual danger, to take the case out of the occupied crossing doctrine." Id. at 610. The plaintiffs attempted to bring their case within the peculiar environment or hazardous condition exception by showing a steep grade down to the crossing, but their own engineering expert testified that the highway was about level for the last 500 feet of Owens' approach. We concluded that, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, Owen produced insufficient evidence for a jury determination on the exception to Mississippi's occupied crossing rule. Id. at 610-611.

King also argues that the district court was required to give his case to a jury under Mississippi Code Ann. § 77-9-249 which reads in pertinent part as follows:

(3) In the trial of all actions to recover personal injury or property damages, sustained by any driver of such vehicles for collision of said vehicle and train in which action it may appear that the said driver may have violated any of the provisions hereof, the question of whether or not the said violation was the sole or approximate cause of the accident and injury shall be for the jury to determine. The violation of this section shall not of itself defeat recovery, and the question of negligence or the violation aforesaid shall be left to the jury; and the comparative negligence statutes and prima facie statute of this state shall apply in these cases as in other cases of negligence.

In Owens, we considered the identical argument and held that this statute established a state procedural rule that was not binding on a federal court. Id. at 611. In the instant case, King has failed to come forward with evidence that the crossing was difficult to see due to a peculiar environment or hazardous condition. Like the plaintiffs in Owens, King has relied on the fact that the accident occurred at night. Without more, this is not enough to establish an environment of unusual danger. Thus, King has failed to demonstrate that the occupied crossing rule does not apply to his case and the district court correctly rejected King's claims, based on ICR's failure to warn.

III.

King next argues that the district court erred in concluding that no genuine issue of material fact existed as to his claim that ICR failed to properly maintain the crossing signal.

In order to hold ICR liable for failing to properly maintain the signal, King was required to show that ICR had either actual or constructive knowledge that the signal was malfunctioning. White v. Thomason, 310 So.2d 914, 916 (Miss. 1975).¹ King contends that he has met this burden. King bases his argument largely on evidence that the signal was...