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Price v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation11/24/2000
(For Official Publication)
Third District, Salt Lake Department The Honorable Anne M. Stirba
This wrongful death action arose from a collision between a train and car, which resulted in the deaths of the car's occupants. The decedents' parents (Plaintiffs) appeal summary judgment for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), Southern Pacific Transportation Company (Southern Pacific) (collectively Railroad Defendants) and the City of South Jordan, Utah (South Jordan). We affirm.
BACKGROUND
This case arose out of a tragic accident in which an Amtrak train struck a car driven by one of Plaintiffs' children, and in which the other Plaintiffs' children were passengers. All occupants of the car died from injuries sustained from the accident.
The accident occurred where Third West Street crosses the tracks at 10200 South in South Jordan. The crossing is marked by cross bucks and a stop sign. A sign indicating an upcoming jog in the road, the railroad crossing, and a stop ahead sign are located on the north-south segment of the highway before the jog in the road is reached.
On the night of December 31, 1995, the decedents were traveling north on Third West in the second of a group of three cars. Decedents' friends were in the other two cars. When the group reached the crossing, the first car either stopped or came to a rolling stop, then proceeded successfully across the tracks in front of an approaching train.
The car carrying the decedents came to a full stop at the crossing for up to three seconds, then began to cross the tracks. The train, which was traveling at about 68 miles per hour, struck the car resulting in fatal injuries to the occupants.
The parents of the decedents brought the present wrongful death action alleging negligence by all Defendants. Plaintiffs alleged the 10200 South railroad crossing was more than ordinarily hazardous, which the trial court assumed for purposes of considering Defendants' motions for summary judgment. Plaintiffs claimed the Railroad Defendants should have upgraded the warning devices or urged the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to do so. Plaintiffs further claimed Amtrak negligently failed to slow its train as it approached the crossing, failed to provide adequate audible warning as the train approached the crossing, and failed to brake the train when the collision became imminent. Plaintiffs also claimed Southern Pacific failed to order Amtrak to slow Amtrak's trains through the crossing. Finally, Plaintiffs claimed South Jordan negligently installed and maintained the passive warning devices at the crossing and negligently failed to upgrade the passive warning devices. The trial court granted Defendants' motions for summary judgment on all claims. Plaintiffs appeal.
Summary judgment is appropriate when there are no issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Utah R. Civ. P. 56(c). We review a grant of summary judgment for correctness. See Winters v. Schulman, 1999 UT App 119, , 977 P.2d 1218.
ANALYSIS
I. Claims Against Railroad Defendants
A. Railroad Defendants' Duty to Upgrade Warning Devices
Plaintiffs argue the Railroad Defendants had a duty to upgrade the warning devices at the crossing or to urge UDOT to do so because the crossing is more than ordinarily hazardous. We disagree.
In Utah, state and local governments have the responsibility to regulate and provide warning to automobile traffic at railroad crossings. See Duncan v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., 790 P.2d 595, 599 (Utah Ct. App. 1990
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