Walden v. Illinois Central Gulf R.R.

• Decision Date: 16 September 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-2364,91-2364
• Citation: 975 F.2d 361
• Parties: Bernard E. WALDEN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL GULF RAILROAD, a corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 361

975 F.2d 361

Bernard E. WALDEN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL GULF RAILROAD, a corporation, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 91-2364.

United States Court of Appeals,

Seventh Circuit.

Argued April 28, 1992.

Decided Sept. 16, 1992.

Anthony G. Argeros (argued), Roger C. Elliott, Elliott & McClure, Momence, Ill., Robert Barewin, Metnick, Barewin & Wise, Springfield, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.

Matthew J. Maddox (argued), William Hardy, Robert E. Gillespie, Hinshaw & Culbertson, Springfield, Ill., for defendant-appellee.

Before MANION, Circuit Judge, and FAIRCHILD and WOOD, Jr., Senior Circuit Judges.

FAIRCHILD, Senior Circuit Judge.

Bernard Walden sustained injuries while acting in the scope of his employment as a brakeman for Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. Walden filed an action for personal injuries under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), 45 U.S.C. §§ 51-60. Prior to trial Walden moved for summary judgment on the issues of the railroad's negligence per se, liability and Walden's contributory negligence. The district court found that the railroad had violated Section 220.49 of the Federal Railroad Administration Radio Standards and Procedures, 49 C.F.R. § 220.49, and held that the violation constituted negligence per se. The case went to trial on the remaining issues, and a jury rendered a verdict for the railroad. Walden moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) and for a new trial. The district court denied both motions, and Walden now appeals.

I. BACKGROUND

On June 23, 1986, Walden was working as a brakeman for the defendant railroad. He was working together with engineer Marion Wagner, flagman James Tice, fireman James Andrews, and conductor Billy Tice to couple certain engines with several boxcars. Walden initiated the coupling process by throwing a track switch located between the rear of the engines and the boxcars. He then instructed the engineer by radio to begin backing the engines toward the boxcars. As the engines began backing toward the boxcars, Walden walked toward the rear of the moving engine and boarded, a procedure he testified was normally followed by brakemen. Tice then took over the radio communications with the engineer. Tice attempted to signal by radio that the engines had traveled one-half of the distance to the boxcars. The radio communication was garbled and the engineer so informed him. Tice, therefore, stepped out to where he could be seen by the engineer and gave hand signals to effect the coupling.

Meanwhile, Walden proceeded up a series of steps and walked toward the door to the cabin where his assigned seat was located. He testified, however, that he was not required to be in his assigned seat until after the coupling was completed and the train's journey began. (Tr. at 40-41.) Walden testified that he intended to be seated or braced by the time of coupling and that he knew that it was preferable to be braced during a coupling. (Tr. 43-44.) He further testified that the area between the cabin door and his assigned seat was a "bad spot" to be in during a coupling because there was nothing to hold on to. (Tr. at 44.) He, however, was not aware that a coupling was imminent because he did not feel or hear the engine's brakes being applied. (Tr. at 47.) At the moment Walden opened the cabin door and started to step inside, the engines coupled with the boxcars, and he was thrown over his assigned seat and injured.

The engineer estimated that at the time of impact the engines were traveling at less than one mile per hour, and he testified that the coupling was a normal coupling. (Tr. at 85, 93.) Tice estimated from his vantage point on the tracks that the engines were traveling at two to three miles per hour at impact, and that the coupling appeared to be normal. (Tr. at 67, 69.) Andrews testified that the impact was noticeable but not severe. (R. at 91.) Walden estimated that the engines were traveling at four miles per hour at impact. (Tr. at 48.)

As stated above, based upon the undisputed fact that the engines did not stop after radio communications were interrupted, the district court held, on pre-trial motion for summary judgment, that Section 220.49 of the Federal Railroad Administration Radio Standards and Procedures had been violated constituting negligence per se as a matter of law. Section 220.49 provides,

If the instructions are not understood or continuous radio contact is not maintained, the movement shall be stopped immediately and may not be resumed until the misunderstanding has been resolved, radio contact has been restored, or communication has been achieved by hand signals or other procedures in accordance with the operating rules of the railroad.

49 C.F.R. § 220.49 (1977). The issue of causation was submitted to the jury, and it was asked to answer the following special verdict question:

Did the defendant's violation of Section 220.49 of the Federal Railroad Administration Radio Standards and Procedures [49 C.F.R. § 220.49] cause or contribute to some injury or damage sustained by the plaintiff?

The jury answered "no" and returned a verdict in favor of the defendant railroad.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Motion for JNOV

We review denial of a motion for JNOV de novo. Siddiqi v. Leak, 880 F.2d 904, 908 (7th Cir.1989). "We must determine whether there is sufficient evidence, when combined with all inferences reasonably drawn, to support the jury's verdict when the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. This court will not reweigh or reevaluate the evidence--that task is reserved to the jury as factfinder." Id. (citations omitted).

In an FELA action, the violation of a statute or regulation, such as Section 220.49, automatically constitutes breach of the employer's duty and negligence per se and will result in liability if the violation contributed in fact to the plaintiff's injury. See, Kernan v. Am. Dredging Co., 355 U.S. 426, 432-33, 78 S.Ct. 394, 398, 2 L.Ed.2d 382 (1958). The FELA is not a workmen's compensation act; causation must still be proved. See, Simpson v. Texas & New Orleans R.R. Co., 297 F.2d 660, 662 (5th Cir.1962). The railroad is liable for any injury to an employee "resulting in whole or in part" from the railroad's negligence. 45 U.S.C. § 51 (1986). Proof that the employee's own negligence was the sole cause of his or her injury is a valid defense because it eliminates the possibility that the regulatory violation contributed in whole or part to the injury. See, Beimert v. Burlington Northern, Inc., 726 F.2d 412, 414 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1216, 104 S.Ct. 2659, 81 L.Ed.2d 365 (1984).

Walden argues that the district court should have found causation established as a matter of law and, thus, granted his motion for JNOV. "The Supreme Court standard is that a district court is justified in withdrawing such issues from the jury's consideration 'only in those extremely rare instances when there is a zero probability either of employer negligence or that any such negligence contributed to the injury of an employee.' " Eckert v. Aliquippa & Southern R.R. Co., 828 F.2d 183, 187 (3d Cir.1987) (quoting Pehowic v. Erie Lackawanna R.R. Co., 430 F.2d 697, 699 (3d Cir.1970)). "The decisions of [the Supreme] Court after the 1939 amendments teach that the Congress vested the power of decision in these actions exclusively in the jury in all but the infrequent cases where fair-minded jurors cannot honestly differ whether fault of the employer played any part in the employee's injury." Rogers v. Missouri Pacific R.R. Co., 352 U.S. 500, 510, 77 S.Ct. 443, 451, 1 L.Ed.2d 493 (1957). See also, Coray v. Southern Pacific Co., 335 U.S. 520, 69 S.Ct. 275, 93 L.Ed. 208 (1949).

In Coray, a train was traveling in an easterly direction followed within several hundred feet by a motorcar. The train's brakes unexpectedly locked up due to the railroad's violation of a statutory obligation, and the train suddenly stopped. The motorcar was equipped with brakes that could have stopped it within a distance of about one hundred feet. However, the motorcar operator was not aware that the train had stopped because he was looking backward at a block signal. He did not apply the brakes and was killed in the collision with the train. The Utah Supreme Court held as a matter of law that the defective equipment did not contribute to the employee's death. The Supreme Court reversed, stating "[t]he jury could have found that decedent's death resulted from any or all of the foregoing circumstances" which the Court noted were "inseparably related in time or space." Coray, 335 U.S. at 524, 69 S.Ct. at 277. In other words, the Court left the determination of causation to the jury.

Similarly, in this case there was sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could have found that the regulatory violation did not contribute in whole or part to Walden's injury. When the facts reasonably support a conclusion for either party, the decision is exclusively for the jury to make. Rogers, 352 U.S. at 504, 77 S.Ct. at 447. The jury could have found the following: Walden boarded the engines during the coupling process although he was not required to do so; he knew that he should be braced during a coupling; Walden continued through the cabin door where he knew there was nothing to hold on to even though he was not required to be in his assigned seat until the train began its journey; and a normal coupling was effected. From these circumstances a reasonable jury could have found that Walden's own actions were the sole cause of his injuries and that the failure to stop the train when radio communications were interrupted did not contribute to his injury. The railroad's negligence consisted of its failure to make an immediate stop. The jury could have believed that because of Walden's unbraced position, not only that his injury upon coupling was caused by his unbraced position, but that the same injury would have...